Brazil judge sentences ex-cops over Marielle Franco killing

A Brazilian judge on Thursday handed lengthy jail terms to two former cops over the 2018 killing of Rio de Janeiro councilwoman Marielle Franco.

The two were sentenced to 78 and 59 years in prison respectively.

The trial of Ronnie Lessa and Elcio Queiroz lasted two days. 

The two former military police officers had confessed to the killing of the iconic Black activist and her driver in a drive-by shooting on March 14, 2018.

What happened in the case?

Jurors found that Lessa, who was handed the 78-year-and-nine-month-sentence, was the one who fired the gun, while Queiroz was driving.

The pair was arrested in 2019.

Ahead of the trial, they had signed plea bargains confessing to their crimes. Prosecutors had argued that each of them should be sentenced to the maximum possible sentence of 84 years.

Another trial for the men accused of ordering Franco's killing has yet to come.

Marielle was universally known by her first name. Raised in one of Rio's poor favelas, she was known for her efforts to improve the lives of ordinary residents.

She particularly fought violence against women and defended human rights and social programs once she was elected in 2016.

Though the verdict was expected, it is expected to provide solace to many who saw her death as an attack on democracy and were concerned for impunity.

What was the reaction to the verdict?

Applause erupted in the courtroom as soon as judge Lucia Glioche finished reading the sentence. Some of the victims' families began to cry.

Anielle Franco, Marielle's sister and Brazil's minister for racial equality, held her parents and Marielle's daughter in a long, tearful embrace.

"To say how much my daughter is missed, what has been missed in these six years and seven months, there is no way to define it. There's no way to define my pain, what I've been through over the years," said Marinete da Silva, Marielle's mother.

"It's a pain, it's a lack, it's an emptiness. It's a heart that has a piece that was unjustly, cowardly ripped out that night of March 14, 2018."

The two former officers attended the trial from prison via video-link.

On Wednesday, Lessa asked the victims' families and all Brazilians for forgiveness. He said he was "blinded" and "driven crazy" by the prospect of a million-dollar reward for Franco's murder, allegedly ordered by organized crime gangs to silence her.

rmt/wd (AP, AFP)