The Brazilian Federal Police arrested this Monday in Rio de Janeiro a former firefighter suspected of having participated in the murder of former councilor and activist Marielle Franco and the driver Anderson Gomes, in March 2018, official sources announced.
The detainee is Maxwell Simões Correa, identified as an accomplice in the double homicide and who had already been sentenced in 2021 to four years in prison for obstruction of justice in this case, although he served his sentence in an open regime, according to Public Ministry sources.
Investigations showed that the former firefighter was the owner of the vehicle that was used to store the weapons of former police officer Ronnie Lessa, accused of being one of the perpetrators of the crime that shocked Brazil and had wide international repercussions.
The arrest occurred as part of an operation launched by the Federal Police, which included raids on seven homes in the city of Rio de Janeiro and the metropolitan region.
With the coming to power of the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, on January 1, the Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, created a special group within the Federal Police to support the investigations of the Rio de Janeiro police with the aim of definitively clarifying the crime.
This morning, the minister reported that Élcio Vieira de Queiroz, another suspect named, along with Ronnie Lessa, as the perpetrator of the crime, made a collaboration agreement with the justice system and pointed out the ex-firefighter’s participation in the deaths.
“The evidence gathered and reanalyzed by the Federal Police unequivocally confirmed the participation of Élcio and Ronnie Lessa. [acordo de colaboração] of Elcio. In making the accusation he admits to his own involvement, points out Ronnie’s involvement, and adds Maxwell’s decisive involvement. It is the beginning of a new testing phase. The objectives of today’s search are related to Élcio’s complaint,” Dino said.
The Brazilian minister also said that other people were involved and that the investigations “show the participation of the militias and organized crime from Rio de Janeiro” in the homicide.
Marielle Franco was shot to death on the night of March 14, 2018, when she was driving through downtown Rio de Janeiro, after participating in a public event.
The driver of the vehicle in which he was traveling, Anderson Gomes, was also executed, while an adviser to the councilor, Fernanda Chaves, survived.
Investigations into the double homicide are still open.
The two alleged perpetrators, former agents Elcio Queiroz and Ronnie Lessa, were arrested in 2019, but it is still unknown who ordered them. The Public Ministry suspects that it was a commissioned crime.
The Minister of Racial Equality of Brazil, Anielle Franco, who is the sister of Marielle Franco, reported on social networks that she spoke with Dino and the general director of the Federal Police, Andrei Rodrigues, about this new operation.
“I just spoke on the phone with Minister Flávio Dino and General Director of the Federal Police about the news of the Marielle and Anderson case. I reaffirm my confidence in the conduct of the investigation by the PF [Polícia Federal] and I repeat the question I have been asking myself for five years: who had Marielle killed and why?” wrote the Brazilian minister.
Source: TSF
