RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 25 (Reuters) – A panel of Brazil’s Supreme Court voted on Wednesday to convict a former lawmaker and four others for their involvement in the assassination of councilwoman and human-rights activist Marielle Franco around eight years ago in Rio de Janeiro, alongside her driver Anderson Gomes.
All four justices on the panel found that former Congressman Chiquinho Brazao and his brother Domingos Brazao, a councilor on the Rio de Janeiro state audit court, ordered Franco’s murder in 2018 to stop her and her political party from creating obstacles to their illegal landgrabbing scheme.
A rising star in Brazil’s Socialism and Liberty Party, Franco was a 38-year-old Black and gay progressive council member born in a poor Rio neighborhood. The targeting of an elected official of Franco’s stature shocked Rio de Janeiro, despite its long history of urban violence, and sparked widespread outrage in Brazil and internationally.
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.