By Fabio Teixeira and Ricardo Brito
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -Brazilian police arrested three individuals on Sunday, together with a federal lawmaker, in reference to the 2018 homicide of Rio de Janeiro metropolis council member Marielle Franco and her driver, two sources on the federal police instructed Reuters.
Federal police arrested Congressman Chiquinho Brazao, his brother Domingos Brazao, a councilor on the Rio de Janeiro state audit court docket (TCE), and former Rio police chief Rivaldo Barbosa, the 2 sources mentioned on situation of anonymity.
The police mentioned in an announcement that it was serving three arrest warrants and 12 search and seizure warrants in reference to the homicide, however talked about no names.
Cops arrived at TCE headquarters early on Sunday to hold out a search and seizure warrant on the workplace of Domingos Brazao, the audit court docket mentioned in an announcement. In an announcement to journalists outdoors the headquarters of the federal police in Rio, Brazao’s lawyer mentioned his shopper is harmless.
Chiquinho Brazao’s workplace and Rio’s police didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
Franco was gunned down in her automotive as she left an occasion on the night time of March 14, 2018, along with her driver Anderson Gomes and her press secretary Fernanda Chaves, who survived.
In March 2019, two former law enforcement officials, Ronnie Lessa and Elcio de Queiroz, had been indicted on fees of capturing Franco and her driver, and final 12 months police arrested one other suspect linked to the case.
Queiroz, accused of driving the automotive used within the crime, and Lessa, suspected of firing the gun, made plea cut price agreements with authorities, with Lessa offering data on who gave the order to kill Franco.
Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski mentioned Lessa gave investigators necessary new data final week that will enable them to unravel the case “quickly.”
Franco, 38, was a black, overtly homosexual and progressive council member born in a poor Rio de Janeiro neighborhood. Investigators imagine her killing to be a political assassination carried out by paid hit males.
A rising star within the Socialism and Liberty Celebration (PSOL), Franco was an outspoken critic of police killings of Rio slum residents and her loss of life sparked nationwide protests by Brazilians fed up with endemic violence.
In tears, Franco’s widow, Monica Benicio mentioned she was not stunned to listen to about Brazao’s household involvement within the case. Over time, it was typically speculated that the brothers had been ultimately linked to the homicide.
Benicio, nonetheless, mentioned she was shocked to know Barbosa, Rio’s police chief on the time of the homicide, might be concerned.
“He was the primary authority who obtained the household the next day,” Benicio instructed journalists outdoors of the federal police headquarters in Rio, including that Barbosa hugged her and made assurances that fixing the case was a precedence.
Gomes’ widow, Agatha Arnaus, instructed journalists that Barbosa’s involvement was a “slap within the face” as he had beforehand instructed them he was a pal of Franco’s.
“As we speak is one other huge step in the direction of getting the solutions we’ve got requested a lot lately: who ordered Mari to be killed and why?” Anielle Franco, the sufferer’s sister and Brazil’s minister of racial equality, mentioned on X.
