Brazil Convicts Militia-Linked Politicians in Marielle Franco Assassination

Brazil’s Supreme Court unanimously convicted former federal lawmaker Chiquinho Brazão, 62, and his brother Domingos, 60, on Wednesday, sentencing each to 76 years and three months in prison for orchestrating the 2018 assassination of Rio de Janeiro councilwoman Marielle Franco and her driver Anderson Gomes.

The verdict closes an eight-year investigation that exposed systemic corruption linking Brazil’s political elite to organized crime networks known as militias. Franco, a Black, lesbian activist who grew up in a favela, was 38 when she was gunned down in central Rio alongside her driver. The case sent shockwaves through Brazil and drew international condemnation.

The Mastermind Network

The investigation hinged on a plea bargain from Ronnie Lessa, the ex-police officer who confessed to firing the shots and was sentenced to 78 years in 2024. Lessa testified he was motivated by the prospect of a million-dollar reward for Franco’s murder. According to his testimony, the payment would include possession of a 31.2-hectare area nicknamed ‘Promised Land,’ with estimated profits of approximately 100 million reais from illegal land subdivision and service exploitation.

The court found that Franco had been targeted because she posed a direct threat to the Brazão brothers’ interests. From her position on the city council, Franco worked to prevent the expansion of clandestine housing developments in poor neighborhoods—one of the militias’ biggest sources of income.

Judge Alexandre de Moraes delivered a blunt assessment: “They were the militia.” He noted Franco was “a black woman who dared to go against the interests of militia members, men, and white people.”

Rio’s Paramilitary Economy

Rio’s militias emerged around four decades ago when former police officers and security agents created self-defense groups to protect communities from drug gangs, then evolved into powerful criminal organizations controlling large parts of the city, extorting residents and seizing public land while benefiting from high-level political support.

Three other defendants were convicted alongside the Brazão brothers: Rivaldo Barbosa, a former police commissioner who first led the investigation, was sentenced to 18 years for obstruction of justice and trying to protect the Brazão brothers. Former military police officer Ronald Paulo de Alves received 56 years for monitoring Franco’s routine and reporting on her whereabouts the night of her murder. Robson Calixto Fonseca, a former advisor to Domingos Brazão, got nine years for acting as an intermediary between the defendants and militia members.

Democracy on Trial

According to Amnesty International, Brazil is “one of the deadliest countries for human rights defenders.” Jurema Werneck, director of Amnesty International in Brazil, said the country “has an opportunity to turn the page on impunity.”

Anielle Franco, Marielle’s sister and Brazil’s racial equality minister, stated the killing “opened wide a pattern of violence, racism and misogyny in our country,” expressing hope the judiciary would act “for justice and in favor of our people, making our democracy stronger.” Monica Benicio, Marielle’s widow, described the “anguish, which we have been enduring for eight years—which is an extremely long time in times of grief.”

Crime expert Chico Otávio, author of a book about Franco’s killing, warned that “the same militia groups that could be behind Marielle’s killing are even more powerful now.” The verdict, while historic, arrives amid broader concerns about Brazil’s justice system and the persistence of organized crime networks embedded in political structures.

What to Watch

The conviction represents a rare accountability win in Brazil’s struggle against political violence, but implementation remains critical. Whether the sentences survive appeals and whether prosecutors can dismantle the broader militia networks that enabled the assassination will determine if this marks a genuine inflection point. The case also sets a precedent for how Brazil handles allegations involving powerful political figures—particularly relevant as investigations continue into other cases linking elected officials to paramilitary organizations. The international community will monitor whether Brazil capitalizes on this momentum to reform police structures and land regulation systems that allowed militia control to flourish for four decades. Most immediately, observers will track whether witnesses and investigators face retaliation, a longstanding pattern in cases involving organized crime in Rio de Janeiro.