The murder trial of Marielle Franco has begun after six years. Between 2012 and 2023, more than 400 human rights defenders were killed in Brazil, says Amnesty International.
Amnesty International (AI) considered that the start of the trial this Wednesday for the murder of former Rio de Janeiro councilor Marielle Franco is “an important step” but stressed that there is still “a long way to go until full justice is done.” .
Considering the trial as a good response by Brazil to violence against human rights defenders, Amnesty International stressed that “it is the duty of the Brazilian State to guarantee justice and reparation to the families and take measures to prevent situations like this from being repeated.”
“Brazil continues to be one of the most dangerous places for human rights defenders”The non-governmental organization highlighted, recalling the Global Witness report, which placed the country, in 2023, in second place in the number of activists and environmentalists murdered, with 25 deaths.
“Between 2012 and 2023, 401 human rights defenders were murdered in the country, he said. Therefore, the trial that began this Wednesday is considered “an important step in the search for justice that began six years ago.”
Even so, “true justice will only be achieved when the Brazilian authorities guarantee that all those responsible for the crime, including its perpetrators, as well as all those responsible for possible deviations and obstructions in the investigations, are also brought to justice,” considered the AI. The trial for the murder, in 2018, of Marielle Franco and the driver Anderson Gomes, began this Wednesday at the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice.
Marielle Franco was a member of the Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL), she was 38 years old, she was born in a favela and she dedicated all her political activity to defending human rights and fighting against the groups that control the popular favelas of Rio de Janeiro.
On Tuesday, the Public Ministry of the State of Rio de Janeiro (MPRJ) indicated that will ask for the maximum sentence of 84 years in prisonfor the executors of former councilor and activist Marielle Franco and driver Anderson Gomes.
Rio de Janeiro prosecutors demand 84 years in prison for Marielle Franco’s executioners
The sentence that will be requested from the Jury Court for the defendants Ronnie Lessa and Élcio de Queiroz, who have already confessed to having been executors of the councilor and the driver in collaboration agreements with justice, will be decided in a trial that begins this Wednesday. The Jury Court will be made up of 21 ordinary people and from this group seven will be selected at random to form the jury that will analyze the case.
The two defendants were charged with double homicide, attempted homicide and receiving a vehicle that was allegedly used on the day of the crime, which occurred on March 14, 2018.
Lessa and Queiroz were arrested in Operation Lume, carried out by the MPRJ and the Civil Police, in March 2019. The defendants will be heard by videoconference, since Lessa is being held in the Tremembé Penitentiary Complex, in São Paulo, and Queiroz in the Papuda Complex. , a federal prison in Brasilia.
Source: Observadora
