The Supreme Federal Court sentenced brothers Chiquinho and Domingos Brazão to 76 years and 3 months in prison for planning and ordering the murder of councilwoman and social activist Marielle Franco and her driver Anderson Gomes in March 2018 in Rio de Janeiro. According to the Prosecutor's Office, the execution of Franco and Gomes was motivated by the councilwoman's political actions aimed at obstructing the interests of the Brazão brothers, including the regularization of areas controlled by militias in Rio de Janeiro, Globo.com and Agencia Brasil reported. According to the Attorney General's Office, there is no doubt that the Brazão brothers were the masterminds of the crimes. In the ruling of the First Chamber of the STF, the vote in favor was cast by Judge Alexandre de Moraes, the case's rapporteur; and judges Cristiano Zanin, Carmen Lúcia, and Flávio Dino, the president of the court. Rivaldo Barbosa, former head of the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for obstruction of justice and corruption.
Robson Calixto, a former military police officer, was sentenced to 9 years. Marielle Franco was gunned down on March 14, 2018, as she was returning from a political event in downtown Rio de Janeiro, while traveling with her driver, Anderson Gomes, who also died shortly after the attack, and her advisor Fernanda Chaves, who survived. She was 38 years old and had become a powerful voice in denouncing the militias in the city of Rio de Janeiro—paramilitary bands composed mostly of former police officers and individuals with security experience. These groups were originally formed in the 1980s to protect favela residents from drug gangs, but over time, they began to have an increasingly greater involvement in irregular real estate businesses, profiting from the illegal seizure of land.
Opposition to this type of business ultimately cost Marielle Franco her life. She was a Black, lesbian woman, born in a Rio de Janeiro favela and a militant of the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL). Despite being charged with the murders of Marielle and Anderson, Barbosa was acquitted of the charge. Ronald Alves de Paula, a major in the Military Police, was sentenced to 56 years in prison.
