Franco, an outspoken critic of police violence against favela residents, was killed in 2018, prompting international outrage

This article is more than 5 months old

This article is more than 5 months old

Two former police officers have been arrested over the murder of the Rio de Janeiro councillor Marielle Franco, two days before the first anniversary of her death, which prompted international outrage.

Franco, a groundbreaking politician who was born in one of Rio’s largest favelas and became a voice for disadvantaged people in the city, was killed in a drive-by shooting along with her driver, Anderson Gomes.

She had criticised police killings in the favelas where she grew up and took part in a 2008 state legislature inquiry into the paramilitary gangs that dominate large areas of Rio state. Known as militias, these groups often include police officers.

The suspects were identified as Ronnie Lessa, a retired military police officer, and Élcio Vieira de Queiroz, a former police officer.

Play Video 25:10 Marielle and Monica: the LGBT activists resisting Bolsonaro's Brazil - video

Investigators said Lessa fired the shots that killed Franco and Gomes on 14 March last year, on the north side of Rio. Queiroz drove the car that ambushed them, investigators said. Queiroz had been expelled from the police.

Prosecutors from a special organised crime unit said in a statement that the shooting was meticulously planned over the course of three months. “It is incontestable that Marielle Franco was summarily executed for her political activity in the defence of the causes she defended,” they added.

Both men were arrested at their homes, prosecutors said. Their homes were searched and documents, laptops, cellphones, weapons, ammunition and other items were seized. Prosecutors also requested that Lessa’s pension and weapons permit be suspended and damages to the families of the victims be paid.

Soon after the arrest, a photograph was shared on social media purportedly showing Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, with Queiroz. The Brazilian magazine Veja reported that the image had been taken in 2011 and posted on Queiroz’s Facebook page last year. The Facebook profile was reportedly deleted on Tuesday morning.

Jornal O Dia (@jornalodia) Publicação teria sido feita em outubro, mês de eleição presidencial. #ODia #RiodeJaneiro #CasoMarielle #Bolsonarohttps://t.co/f2uX22yjso

Bolsonaro played down the photo on Tuesday afternoon. “There are photos of me with thousands of police officers,” he said.

The president said that he hoped investigators would find out who ordered Franco’s killing, but then added: “I am also interested in who ordered me to be killed” – a reference to the knife attack on him during last year’s presidential campaign.

At a press conference in Rio de Janeiro, investigating officer Giniton Lages also confirmed that one of Bolsonaro’s sons once dated a daughter of the other suspect, Lessa. “We will deal with this at an opportune moment. It’s not important right now,” Lages said.

The president’s press office did not respond to requests to comment.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Marielle Franco in Cinelândia Square, Rio de Janeiro, in January 2018. Photograph: Ellis Rua/AP

Lages described a massive investigation that involved wiretaps on 318 telephone lines, 760 GB of data and 5,700 pages, but he left the biggest question of all unanswered: who ordered the murder of Marielle Franco, and why?

This, Lages said, belonged to the “second phase” of the investigation. “The second phase is ongoing and no information about the second phase will be provided now,” he said.

Franco’s fiancee, Mônica Benício, told the Guardian: “This is an important step in the investigations, no doubt. But one year is too much time for a murder like this.

“More important than the arrests … is an answer to the most urgent question: who ordered Marielle to be killed? I hope I don’t have to wait another year to know who ordered all this.”

Marcelo Freixo, the congressman and former state legislature lawmaker with whom Franco began her career, also said the arrests had come too late. “It’s unacceptable that we waited a year to have a response,” he told Globo news. “Who ordered this?”

Franco’s aide, Fernanda Chaves, who survived the attack and has since been in hiding, described the incident to the Portuguese newspaper Diário de Notícias.

Chaves said she grabbed the handbrake after hearing a burst of shots and the car window shattering. “I just thought there had been a gunfight,” she said. “As it was very quiet in the street, I started to call people, who came closer, without understanding what had happened.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A flag depicting the image of Marielle Franco at Rio carnival. Photograph: Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty

She said she did not realise what had happened until she heard the police say “Two shot dead and one survivor”.

Since her murder, Franco has become a symbolic figure for Brazilian women. Last week, people used the city’s annual carnival to demand answers in the case.

Rio’s most famous samba school, Mangueira, paid tribute to the murdered politician with a sequinned show of song, dance and dissent. Partygoers streamed down Rio’s Sambadrome waving green and pink flags emblazoned with Franco’s image and placards reading “Justice for Marielle”.

After the prosecutors’ press conference, Franco’s family paid tearful tribute to her legacy. “Marielle started a movement, a worldwide movement,” said her sister, Anielle. “They didn’t silence Marielle – on the contrary, they started a gigantic noise.”</s>Two former police officers were arrested in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday in connection with the killing of a city councillor and her driver, Rio de Janeiro police and prosecutors said.

The arrests came on the eve of the first anniversary of the deaths of Marielle Franco and her driver, Anderson Gomes.

The suspects have been identified as:
• Élcio Vieira de Queiroz, a police officer who was expelled from the force.

"Two police officers were arrested with a direct and effective participation in the crime," said Marcus Vinicius Braga, Rio de Janeiro state police secretary. "With these arrests, we get close to solving the crime."

Investigators said Lessa fired the shots that killed Franco and Gomes on March 14, 2018, on the north side of Rio. It's alleged Queiroz drove the car that ambushed the car they were in, investigators said.

Elected in 2016, Franco was a member of the left-leaning Socialism and Liberty Party known for her social work in poor and marginalized favelas and for her outspokenness against police violence, which disproportionately affects black residents.

Her press secretary, Fernanda Chaves, who was in the same vehicle as Franco and Gomes, suffered minor injuries.

The press office for President Jair Bolsonaro did not immediately reply to request for comment.

Monica Benicio, Franco's fiancée at the time of her death, tweeted early Tuesday morning after the latest development, wondering in Portuguese on whose behalf the gunmen were acting.</s>Sao Paulo, Brazil - It took nearly a year for Brazilian police to make an arrest in the murder of black activist and Rio de Janeiro councilwoman Marielle Franco.

Police said on Tuesday they had arrested two former police officers over the murders of Franco and her driver, Anderson Gomes.

According to investigators, the two former officers drove up beside the vehicle where Franco, Gomes and the councilwoman's press secretary were waiting on March 14, 2018, and shot Franco and Gomes dead.

Franco, who was a lesbian, regularly denounced police brutality, especially in the favelas where she was raised. She also called for the rights of women and the LGBT community.

In announcing the arrests, prosecutors agreed with the family's suspicions that Franco's murder was politically motivated.

It is undisputed that Franco was killed "because of the political causes that she defended", the prosecutor's office said in its report.

The activist's murder prompted massive nationwide protests against police violence and racism and sparked a national Black Lives Matter movement.

But a year later, rights groups and Franco's supporters say not much has changed, and in some cases has only gotten worse.

"Marielle's death should've translated to bigger protections for women, LGBT, black and poor communities, but it didn't," said Maria Clara Canineu, director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) in Brazil.

Canineu added that rights abuses and executions committed by police contribute to "a cycle of violence" in the city.

According to HRW, there were 1,530 police killings in Rio de Janeiro last year, the largest number ever recorded in the city. Although Canineu said, "many deaths are legitimate … a majority are executions".

Rio police did not respond to requests for comment.

This year, several police shootings in the city's favelas have caused outrage among many Brazilians. 

In late January, residents of one favela said two people were killed by snipers shooting from a nearby police tower. Police said no sniper operation was ordered and opened an investigation, as did the prosecutor's office.

About three weeks later, a police raid in the Fogueteiro favela killed 13 people - the majority of whom were from the same family. In a statement, police said it responded with fire after being shot at first.

Last week, a video showing a police helicopter showering the Complexo de Alemao favela with bullets went viral. Police said it was conducting a drug bust but did not clarify if the helicopters fired live ammunition. Police also said no injuries were reported

"There is a latent impunity for crimes in general in Brazil, but especially for homicides and even more for homicides committed by police officers," Canineu told Al Jazeera.

She added that HRW frequently registers other abuses by security forces, including shootings at close range, torture, beatings and a lot of mishandling in investigations, such as messing with the crime scene, "placing the gun in the dead person's hand", and failing to talk to witnesses or to collect evidence.

Responding to similar allegations made by HRW last year, the city's secretary of state for safety at the time said it "has as its main guidelines, the preservation of human life and dignity, controlling crime rates and the qualified and integral action of its police".

It added "most gun-seizing operations happen after an intense shooting that ends, often victimising police and residents".

In 2017, there were a record 63,895 homicides nationwide. About 70 percent of those victims were black, according to the Brazilian Forum for Public Safety (FBSP). The favela communities are some of the most affected.

In an attempt to curb violence in the country, the government, under the administration of former Brazilian President Michel Temer, deployed a military intervention in Rio's favelas for most of 2018.

Shootings and drug busts became an almost daily reality for residents. Although the government considered the operation a success, most Rio residents said not much changed, according to a poll by the Brazilian Forum for Public Safety. The same study revealed that almost one-third of those surveyed had been caught in the middle of a shooting during the intervention.

Wilson Witzel, Rio de Janeiro state's governor, declined to respond to Al Jazeera's request for comment, but after winning the election last year, he pledged to "slaughter" criminals. He told local media in January "organised crime can no longer have the freedom to carry weapons of war and be treated romantically as people who didn't have opportunities".

Raull Santiago, resident and community leader of Complexo do Alemao, said he believes most police aggression is motivated by racism and prejudice.

"Historically they always tried to control the black, poor communities. Today the war on drugs is their excuse for the violent control of our bodies," he told Al Jazeera.

He added the only dialogue the government offers is "through the barrel of a gun".

Santiago explained that is why Franco was so important. Because she was "a black, lesbian 'favelada' woman occupying a space of power that was always taken by men" and who dared to speak up.

"I believe that's why she became a target," he said.

Franco's life - like many others living in Rio - was affected by the flaws in public security but also by the powerful and dangerous armed groups. They control 25 percent of the city's territory, where more than two million people live, according to the Globo news channel.

These armed groups extort residents for access to basic resources such as water, electricity, internet or security and they coordinate with state forces such as the military, police forces and even politicians.

"It's like the state is just a regulating agency that outsources territorial control and management of public services to these criminal groups," said Jacqueline Muniz, anthropologist, and researcher at the Federal Fluminense University (UFF).

"Security in Rio is governed by fear and not against it," she told Al Jazeera.

"The price to pay for this are the lives of black, poor communities, and [for them] these lives are cheap," she said, referring to both residents and police officers who often come from the same communities they patrol.

Relations between government agents and criminal groups are not new in Brazil or Latin America, but the suspects in Franco's case have been linked to the most powerful figures in the country.

In January, police said they believed a gang headed by Adriano Nobrega, a former police officer who was distinguished by Flavio Bolsonaro, a senator in Rio de Janeiro and the son of right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, was involved in Franco's shooting. Nobrega's wife and mother had also been members of Flavio Bolsonaro's staff.

And one of the men arrested on Tuesday in connection with Franco's murder lives in the same compound as one of Jair Bolsonaro's houses.

Jurema Werneck, director of Amnesty International in Brazil, said she believed Franco's case could be an opportunity for the new government to take a stance against violence.

"This is their moment to send a message to the Brazilian society that the killing of human rights defenders is not tolerable," she told Al Jazeera.

"Marielle's murder was also because she fought against [police corruption]. It was an attempt to silence her and the social movement that demands a society with no violence," she added.

"That's why it's so crucial to find justice, so the government can show this cannot go on."</s>RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - Police on Tuesday arrested two suspects in the killing of Rio de Janeiro councilwoman Marielle Franco and her driver, a brazen assassination that shocked and angered Brazilians and sparked protests in several countries.

The arrest of the men comes two days before the anniversary of the killings on March 14, 2018. While police had questioned many people, before Tuesday nobody had been arrested or charged in the shooting of Franco and her driver, Anderson Gomes.

Two men, both former police officers, were taken into custody early Tuesday, a police spokesman told The Associated Press. Per agency protocol, the spokesman asked that his name not be used.

Police identified the suspects as Ronnie Lessa and Elcio Vieira de Queiroz. Lessa allegedly shot Franco and De Queiroz allegedly drove a car involved in the shooting, the spokesman said. Franco and Gomes were returning from a meeting Franco had attended on empowering black women when their car was attacked.

Franco, who was black, lesbian, and grew up in one of Rio de Janeiro's roughest neighborhoods, cut a stark image in Brazil, where most politicians are white men. She had been a frequent critic of police violence, particularly in poor neighborhoods called favelas.

Marches were planned for Thursday, the anniversary of the killings.

Police and politicians in the state of Rio de Janeiro have been under intense pressure to solve the case, which apparently involved sophisticated planned by the assassins, right down to making sure surveillance cameras were shut off on the street where the attack happened. Months after the hit, police even went to the trouble to recreate the crime scene, shutting down a large swath of downtown Rio for a day in attempts to gather clues.

Throughout the investigation, there have been numerous media leaks and optimistic statements by authorities about getting close to solving the case, drawing sharp criticism from the family of Franco and human rights groups that argued such actions lowered the chances of getting justice.

Marcelo Freixo, a state legislator and friend of Franco from the same left-leaning party, told Globo TV the arrests were an important step, but the case "has not been resolved."

"Who sent them (to kill Franco)?" Freixo said. "We don't accept the version that these people were motivated by passion and hate when they didn't even really know who Marielle was."

FILE - In this March 14, 2018 file photo, Brazilian police officers work on a crime scene as they stand next to vehicle in which council member Marielle Franco and her driver where both shot to death by two unidentified attackers in Rio de Janeiro, Police in Brazil said on Tuesday, March 12, 2019, that they have arrested two suspects in the killing of Franco and her driver last year. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)</s>Marielle Franco, a black Brazilian councilwoman who fought for the rights of blacks, women and the poor, was viciously assassinated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on March 14 of last year. Now, almost a year later, Rio de Janeiro police have arrested two men they believe are responsible for killing Franco and her driver, Anderson Gomes, with 14 shots.

But the public still doesn’t know who ordered the assassination of Franco.

At 4 a.m. local time on Tuesday, police arrested Ronnie Lessa, 48, a retired police sergeant, and Elcio Vieira de Queiroz, former military police who had been expelled from the force. The public ministry says Lessa was responsible for the shooting while Queiroz was driving the vehicle from which the shots were fired. Lessa was arrested at his condominium in Rio de Janeiro’s Barra da Tijuca. Coincidentally, he lives in the same luxury condominium complex as Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Investigators said there were three people in the car from which the shots were fired.

According to prosecutors, the crime was “meticulously” planned three months before the attack. “It is undisputed that Marielle Francisco da Silva Franco was summarily executed because of her political actions in defense of the causes she defended. The barbarism practiced on the night of March 14, 2018, was a blow to the Democratic State of Law,” reads the official complaint against Lessa and Queiroz.

Since their arrests, internet sleuths have unearthed photos of Lessa and Queiroz with President Bolsonaro. Investigators have not confirmed any relationship between the shooters and President Bolsonaro, who never paid homage to Franco during his presidential campaign last year.

As a councilwoman from the Maré favela, Franco denounced the police brutality that favela residents, most of them black, regularly experienced.

Her death touched so many people that supporters organized vigils and protests in more than 20 cities across Brazil. Most of those protests were against the genocide of black people in Brazil. For Afro-Brazilians, Franco proved that a black person from a favela could be educated, have dignity and also fight against the social injustice that black Brazilians suffer from every day. For women, she proved they could overcome sexism and machismo in Brazil. But her death is hitting Afro-Brazilian women, who suffer the most from Brazil’s violent, racist and sexist society, the hardest.

Dozens of events and memorials are planned across Brazil and the world to honor Marielle Franco on March 14, the one year anniversary of her assassination.</s>Sao Paulo, Brazil - Two former police officers were arrested early on Tuesday morning in Rio de Janeiro over last year's murder of black activist and councilwoman Marielle Franco and her driver, Anderson Gomes.

Ronnie Lessa and Elcio Vieira de Queiroz are accused of participating in the murders of Franco and Gomes, according to a police statement sent to Al Jazeera. Their arrest comes two days before the anniversary of the deadly drive-by shooting.

According to prosecutors, Queiroz drove the car that ambushed Franco, while Lessa fired the shots that hit the activist in her neck and head.

Lessa and Queiroz are also accused of attempted murder of Franco's press secretary, who was also in the car the night of the shooting but suffered only minor injuries.

"This is absolutely great news and I commend the local authorities", Monica Benicio, Marielle Franco's widow, told Al Jazeera over the phone.

"But the real question remains: Who ordered Marielle's killings?"

According to the prosecutor's office, "it is undisputed that Marielle Francisco da Silva was summarily executed because of the political causes that she defended."

Franco, who was a black, lesbian Rio de Janeiro councilwoman for the Socialism and Liberty Party, was born in the Mare favela. During her life and after her death she became a symbol of resistance against police brutality and the presence of armed groups in the city and throughout Brazil.

She regularly denounced police abuse and stood up for the rights of women and the LGBT community.

The questions "Who killed Marielle?" and "Who ordered Marielle's killing?" became nationwide slogans for justice for issues regarding women and black Brazilians.

Wilson Witzel, Rio de Janeiro's governor, said authorities could open a "second investigation" into Franco's murder "if necessary".

"We have done great strides and I'm sure we will move forward even more," he said.

According to police, Queiroz had been expelled from the force in 2011 after being arrested in an operation connecting police officers with armed groups and drug traffickers. Lessa retired after a bomb attempt against him. Before that, he received a distinction from Rio's parliament.

Protests marking the one year anniversary of Franco's murder are scheduled for Thursday.</s>Two police officers were arrested Tuesday in the killing last year of gay Rio de Janeiro city councillor Marielle Franco and her driver, prosecutors said, a brazen murder that shocked Brazil.

Franco, 38, who was black, grew up in a slum and went on to become a respected defender of the poor and the LGBT community, and an outspoken critic of police brutality.

She was slain in a drive-by shooting along with her driver, Anderson Gomes, in downtown Rio de Janeiro on the evening of March 14, 2018. Her death triggered protests around the world and mass demonstrations in Brazil.

A sergeant in the military police, Roni Lessa, 48, was arrested on suspicion of being the shooter, the Rio prosecutor's office said in a statement.

The suspected driver, Elcio Vieira de Queiroz, 46, who was expelled from the military police, was also arrested, the statement said.

Prosecutors in a special organized crime unit say the shooting was meticulously planned over the course of three months, and there is no doubt that Franco was "summarily executed" because of her position and the causes that she defended.

The murder "was an attempt to silence all those movements that are growing: of black women, of the LGBT population -- they wanted black women to abandon their fights, and for the LGBT population to withdraw," Franco's partner Monica Benicio told AFP last week during the Rio carnival festivities.

After Rio hosted the summer Olympics in 2016, violence increased between drug gangs as well as between these gangs and paramilitary police militia and security forces.</s>RIO DE JANEIRO, March 12 (Reuters) - Two former policemen were arrested in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday in connection with the murder of a local councilwoman and her driver, Rio de Janeiro police and prosecutors said.

The operation that resulted in the arrests came on the eve of the first anniversary of the deaths of the councilwoman, Marielle Franco, and Anderson Gomes.

The suspects were identified as Ronnie Lessa, a retired military police officer, and Élcio Vieira de Queiroz, a former policeman who was expelled from the force.

"Two police officers were arrested with a direct and effective participation in the crime," said Marcus Vinícius Braga, Rio de Janeiro state police secretary. "With the these arrests, we get close to solving the crime."

Investigators said Lessa fired the shots that killed Franco and Gomes on March 14, 2018, on the north side of Rio. Queiroz drove the car that ambushed them, investigators said.

Franco, an activist for human rights and women's causes, was a rising star in the Socialism and Liberty Party. Her press secretary, Fernanda Chaves, who was traveling in the same vehicle as Franco and Gomes, suffered minor injuries.

One of the detained policemen lives in the same gated community where Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has a home and lived before being elected last year. The police did not explain whether that had any significance and so far the president has not been tied to the case in any manner.

The president's press office did not immediately reply to request for comment. (Reporting by Rodrigo Viga, writing by Ana Mano, editing by Larry King)</s>RIO DE JANEIRO — Police in Brazil have arrested two suspects in the killing of Rio de Janeiro councilwoman Marielle Franco and her driver.

The brazen assassination of the two on March 14 last year led to massive protests and widespread anger in Latin America's largest nation.

A police spokesman told The Associated Press that two men were taken into custody early Tuesday. Per agency protocol, the spokesman asked that his name not be used.

The two men arrested were former police officers, according to the police spokesman. One allegedly shot Franco and the other drove a car involved in the shooting.

Franco, who was black and a lesbian, had been a frequent critic of police violence, particularly in poor neighborhoods called favelas.

Marches are planned for Thursday, the year anniversary of the death.</s>RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Two former police officers were arrested and charged on Tuesday in connection with the murders of a local councilwoman and her driver that sparked national protests last year over Brazil’s endemic violence, Rio de Janeiro police and prosecutors said.

The operation that resulted in the two arrests in Rio de Janeiro was near the first anniversary of the deaths of the councilwoman, Marielle Franco, and her driver, Anderson Gomes.

The suspects were identified as Ronnie Lessa, a retired military police officer, and Élcio Vieira de Queiroz, a policeman who was expelled from the force.

“Two police officers were arrested with a direct and effective participation in the crime,” said Marcus Vinícius Braga, Rio de Janeiro state police secretary. “With these arrests, we are getting close to solving the crime.”

Investigators said Lessa fired the shots that killed Franco and Gomes on March 14, 2018, on the north side of Rio, Brazil’s second largest city. Queiroz drove the car that ambushed them, investigators said.

Franco, a human rights and women’s rights activist who had denounced police abuse in Rio, was a rising star in the Socialism and Liberty Party. Her press secretary, Fernanda Chaves, who was traveling in the same vehicle, suffered minor injuries.

Thousands took to the streets in protest across Brazil after the killings, which drew international condemnation from rights groups.

According to the document detailing the charges, “it is undisputed that Marielle Francisco da Silva was summarily executed because of the political causes that she defended.”

Lessa lives in the same gated community where Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has a home, according to authorities, but they did not explain if there is any significance to that, and so far the president has not been tied to the case in any manner.

The president’s press office did not respond to a request for comment.
Two former military police officers are arrested in Brazil for the murders of Marielle Franco and her driver Anderson Gomes. One of the suspects was arrested at home, in a Rio de Janeiro gated community where President Jair Bolsonaro also resides. Franco was born in a Rio favela and became a politician and activist against violence in the slums, which are often controlled by paramilitary groups. Her assassination prompted widespread protests.