More than six years after Brazilian councilwoman and Black LGBTQ activist Marielle Franco was murdered by former police officers Ronnie Lessa and Elcio Queiroz, in a murder suspected to have ties to drug trafficking, her killers were finally sentenced to 78 and 59 years in prison respectively on Thursday.
Anielle Franco, Marielle Franco’s sister, and Marielle’s widow Monica Benicio reacting to sentence Marielle and her driver, Anderson Gomes’s murderers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on October 31, 2024.
A Brazilian court on Thursday sentenced the two killers of iconic Black LGBTQ activist and councilwoman Marielle Franco to 78 and 59 years in jail, respectively, after a two-day trial over a crime that shocked the country.
Ronnie Lessa and Elcio Queiroz, two former military police officers, had confessed to killing the Rio de Janeiro politician and her driver Anderson Gomes in a drive-by shooting on March 14, 2018.
Lessa, who was sentenced to 78 years and nine months imprisonment, said he pulled the trigger. Queiroz, who drove the car, was sentenced to 59 years and eight months behind bars.
“Justice sometimes is slow to come… but it does come,” Judge Lucia Glioche said as she issued the sentence.
Franco’s assassination sent shockwaves through Brazil.
It cast a spotlight on the connections between police officers, powerful politicians and the militias that terrorize poor Rio communities, which Franco had denounced and who are suspected of ordering her assassination.
Congressman Chiquinho Brazao and his brother Domingos Brazao, an advisor with the state auditor, have been charged with masterminding the attack.
Continue reading at: https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20241031-marielle-franco-s-killers-sentenced-to-78-59-years-in-jail (source)
After the sentencing, Franco’s father Antônio da Silva Neto said his family would continue their fight for justice.
“It doesn’t end here because there were masterminds [of the crime]. The question we’re asking now is: when will the masterminds be convicted?”
Franco’s death at the age of 38 sparked nationwide protests
Life sentences do not exist under Brazilian law and each defendant is expected to serve a maximum of 30 years.
The two were ordered to pay together 706,000 reais (£93,000; $120,000) in damages to Franco’s mother, partner and daughter, and to Gomes’ wife.
They were also ordered to pay a pension to Gomes’ son Arthur until he is 24.
Chaves, who survived the shooting, told the court how the night unfolded and “completely changed” her life. Shortly after the attack, Chaves and her family fled the country and she was not able to attend Franco’s funeral or memorial service. She has since moved back to Brazil.
Speaking to court via video-link, she said those responsible for Franco’s murder would spend the rest of their lives hearing Franco’s name and seeing her “face in walls across the world”.
“They took Marielle from us, but they couldn’t take away what Marielle means”, she added.
Continue reading at: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd7neyw2459o (Source)
Previous articles:
- Suspected hitman of lesbian politician Marielle Franco killed by police
- Brazil: two ex-police charged with murder of lesbian activist politician Marielle Franco and her driver
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