Weekly Report - 07 November 2024 (WR-24-44)

In March 2018, former police officers Ronnie Lessa and Élcio Vieira de Queiroz carried out one of Brazil’s most notorious political assassinations of recent years, killing a rising star in Rio de Janeiro’s political scene, city councillor Marielle Franco. The pair were arrested the following year, but it has taken over six years for the culprits to face trial and be sentenced for the murder. On 31 October Franco’s friends and family welcomed the convictions of the killers but also highlighted that the path to justice must continue with the convictions of the alleged masterminds behind her assassination and their suspected accomplices.