By Dario Pignotti on January 4, 2023
Marielle Franco
While Lula participated in Pele’s funeral in the interior of Sao Paulo, his ministers were implementing the main programs of the new government. On Tuesday, the head of Human Rights, the black philosopher Silvio Almeida, took office, promising to revoke all Bolsonaro’s decrees that incite discrimination and hatred.
The Minister of Justice, Flavio Dino, promised to go to the bottom in the clarification of the murder of Black councilwoman Marielle Franco. “It is a matter of honor of the Brazilian State to make every effort so that we know who killed and who ordered the killing of Marielle Franco in Rio de Janeiro”, summarized Dino. On the night of March 14, 2018, Marielle Franco, of the Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL), was killed along with her driver, Anderson Gomes, in downtown Rio, by a man who shot her in the head with the coldness of professionals.
The accused are former police officers Ronnie Lesa and Elcio Queiroz, linked to the vigilante groups, known as “militias”, with which former president Jair Bolsonaro has had relations. On the morning of that March 14, Lessa and Queiroz met in a private neighborhood where Bolsonaro was living at the time. The former president admitted knowing Lessa and having casual encounters with him, but denied knowing that his neighbor was a killer and arms dealer.
During his government Bolsonaro removed several investigators and prosecutors when they made progress in the Marielle Franco case, a crime that had national and international impact. The young dynamic Marielle, murdered at 38 years of age, had gained recognition from the poor of Rio de Janeiro for her performance in the Deliberative Council because of her denunciations of police and parapolice violence in the favelas.
Justice Minister Dino said Monday that he does not rule out the possibility of summoning the Federal Police to join the bogged down investigations into the Marielle case, which is being led by the Rio police, known to be pro-Bolsonar. Dino was applauded, in the auditorium of the Ministry of Justice, by Marielle’s parents and her sister, Anielle Franco, whom Lula appointed as Minister of Racial Equality.