Brazilian ex-police officers get decades in prison for 2018 murder of Rio politician

By Rodrigo Viga Gaier

A Brazilian judge sentenced two former police officers to decades behind bars on Thursday for the 2018 murders of Rio de Janeiro city council member Marielle Franco and her driver.

Ronnie Lessa and Elcio de Queiroz, who pleaded guilty under a deal with prosecutors, were ordered to serve 78 years and nine months and 59 years and eight months of prison, respectively, for shooting Franco and Anderson Gomes in her car on March 14, 2018.

A rising star in Brazil's Socialism and Liberty Party, Franco was a Black and gay progressive council member born in a poor Rio neighborhood. Her death at 38 sparked nationwide protests by Brazilians fed up with endemic violence.

Brazil's justice minister has said Franco's plans to create housing for the poor ran afoul of powerful interests.

"Justice is being served even though the meaning of justice will never be complete for us after the loss of Marielle," Anielle Franco, the politician's sister and Brazil's racial equality minister, said on Thursday after the sentencing.

Three other men remain under investigation in the ordering and planning of the attack carried out by Lessa and Queiroz.

The two former officers will only serve 30 years, prosecutor Eduardo Martins told journalists, since at the time of the attack, Brazilian law did not provide for longer sentences.

The decision can be appealed. Lessa and Queiroz's lawyers did not speak with journalists after the sentencing.