By Osvaldo Cardosa
Correspondent in Brazil
Former Rio Military Police sergeant Ronnie Lessa is accused of double murder.
Lessa was arrested at his home in March 2019. He is serving preventive detention with another accused of bloody crime, also a former military agent Élcio Queiroz. Both respond from a clumsy ground, an ambush and resource that made defending the victim difficult, and an attempted attack on an adviser to Franco, who survived.
Recently, the Prime Minister of Rio expelled Lessa from the ranks, citing what he described as abominable behavior as the reason for the sacking. He was released following open disciplinary proceedings two years and seven months after his arrest for involvement in the City Council crime.
In standard text used by the prime minister in cases of expulsion of his cadres, one council claimed that “the above behaviors mark disapproval of the military police service and comrades in uniform and irreparably tarnish the company’s image and ethics”.
Also in the investigation, the Rio State Department found that Lessa had assets incompatible with a PM sergeant’s income and lived a life of luxury with multiple properties and boats.
Parliamentarians, friends of the city council, reiterated that the prime minister’s decision was late and there was no reason to celebrate as the company had waited four years to comment on the former police officer.
If Lessa was killed, who paid? Who ordered Marielle’s assassination?” confirmed socialist city councilor Mónica Cunha.
In addition to the murder trial, Lessa has previously been placed in preventive detention for money laundering and convicted in trials for international arms trafficking and concealing the war implements used in the assassination of Franco and Anderson Gomes.
PROMISE
“In order to expand federal cooperation in the investigation of the criminal organization responsible for the murders of Marielle and Anderson (Gomes), I have decided to open an investigation with the Federal Police (PF). We do everything we can to help solve such crimes,” Justice Minister Flavio Dino wrote on Twitter on February 22.
When he took office in January, Dino promised the human rights defender’s relatives that “it is a matter of honor for the Brazilian state to make every possible and reasonable effort, and it will do so, so that this crime is finally exposed”. .
The PF is investigating the case for the first time as an internal administrative procedure and there is no deadline to complete it. Because the files are classified, the Justice Department clarified that it will not release details until the case is closed.
In practice, the trial will continue under the responsibility of the prosecutor, but the PF will investigate the part for which it is responsible, in a task force with the Rio prosecutor, and will assist with the intelligence part. Franco, 38 years old and from the Socialism and Freedom Party, and his driver Gomes were killed in a central area of Rio on the night of that fateful day. Thirteen shots from a highly accurate HK MP5 submachine gun, used only by elite police forces, hit the vehicle they were traveling in.
According to Globo newspaper, she was the city’s fifth most-elected councilor in 2016, with more than 46,000 votes in her first election, and is considered one of the biggest voices for Rio’s political renewal.
STATUE AND TRIBUTE
A bronze statue was unveiled in downtown Rio on July 27 in homage to the councilwoman.
The life-size image, sculpted by artist Edgar Duvidier (1.75 metres), was unveiled in Rio de Janeiro’s Buraco do Lume, an area where the councilwoman frequented every Friday to exchange views with her constituents.
“It’s a historic day, it’s a day of remembrance, a day to rewrite our pain, our struggle. It has worked tirelessly for justice for the past five years and remembers that people still don’t know who gave the order to kill Marielle,” said her sister Anielle Franco, current Minister for Racial Equality.
He pointed out that “having this statue, giving new meaning to the place where she spoke many times…a lot of people who voted for her, met her here in this place.” Therefore, today, apart from the emotions of her birthday, it is important for me to know that my sister is here, a little more with us, “he stressed.
The activities in honor of Franco and Gomes take place every week in March.
The Marielle Franco Institute, founded and run by the late politician’s family, is accepting registrations on its website from non-governmental organizations wishing to organize memorial events.
The motivation for the killing is still unclear, but reports say Franco was killed because of her human rights activism. According to authorities close to the investigation, the reasons that led to the deadly attacks were linked to the causes defended by the activist.
The case had international resonance and made the sociologist and feminist a political symbol in the fight for human rights and the greater participation of black women in spaces of power in Brazil.
To this day, it is not clear who was intellectually responsible for the fatal violation. Franco and Gomes’ families claim they have lost hope of solving the crime.
Throughout this period, investigations indicate the involvement of militiamen from the security forces.
The death of a popularly elected MP was seen by parts of society as an attack on democracy. After five years, the question arises: “Who ordered the murder of Marielle Franco?” Still no answer.
arb/ocs