Zanin follows Moraes and votes to convict the Brazão brothers as masterminds in the Marielle case

Minister Cristiano Zanin, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), accompanied the rapporteur, Alexandre de Moraes and voted to convict the Brazão brothers, accused of being the masterminds behind the murder of councilor Marielle Franco and her driver, Anderson Gomes, and the attempted murder of advisor Fernanda Chaves, in March 2018. Domingos Brazão, counselor at the Rio de Janeiro Court of Auditors, and Chiquinho Brazão, former federal deputy, and three others defendants are being tried by the First Panel of the Court.

With Zanin’s position, there are two votes to condemn them.

Moraes’ vote

Moraes voted to convict Domingos and Chiquinho Brazão for armed criminal organization and the murders of Marielle, Anderson and the attempted murder of Fernanda Chaves. The rapporteur voted to convict Ronald and Robson of the two murders and the attempted murder. Regarding police chief Rivaldo Barbosa, Moraes disqualified the PGR’s accusation of participation in the crimes due to reasonable doubt, not denial of authorship, but convicted him of the crimes of obstruction of justice and passive corruption.

In the case of former Rio Civil Police chief Rivaldo Barbosa, also a defendant in the case, Moraes stated that there is no proof that he participated in the homicides, but that there is no doubt that he “received bribes and was on the payroll of several militias, including the Brazão brothers”.

— I have no doubt that he directed the other way to try to guarantee total impunity — he said.

The minister highlighted that there was a political motivation in the crime. According to Moraes, the evidence of authorship and materiality regarding the crimes of criminal organization and homicide attributed to the accused is present.

— Both for the economic purpose and for the purpose of political dominance of this militia organization, this criminal organization, Domingos Inácio Brazão and João Francisco Inácio Brazão were the masterminds of the double murder and attempted murder against the victims Marielle Francisco da Silva, at the time a councilor in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Anderson Pedro Mathias Gomes, then the councilor’s driver, and Fernanda Gonçalves Chaves, then an advisor — said the minister in an excerpt of his vote.

Moraes also highlighted that in Marielle’s case, political motivation was combined with “misogyny, racism, discrimination”.

— Marielle was a poor black woman who was supporting the interests of militia members. What is the strongest message that could be made? In the misogynistic, prejudiced minds of those in charge and executors: Who would care about that? Let’s eliminate it. They didn’t expect such an impact. A 100 year old head, 50 years ago. Let’s eliminate it and it won’t have much repercussions. And collaborator Ronnie Lessa said that the principals were concerned about the repercussions. They did not expect such a repercussion — said Moraes.

For the magistrate, the murder served as a “message”:

— There was a choice of a target, a target that would be a political opponent, and within this idea of ​​eliminating not only the political opponent, but sending a message to political opponents, the symbolism that this murder would be — he stated when starting to read his vote.

Moraes stressed that Domingos and Chiquinho “were the masterminds of the double murder and attempted murder against” Marielle and Anderson. According to him, the evidence shows a direct relationship between the Brazão brothers and Robson Calixto da Fonseca, known as Peixe, with members of the militia.

— They not only had contact with the militia, they were the militia, they participated in the militia, one as an executor of militia acts, the other as the great political influence, the political guarantee of the maintenance of those territories dominated by the militia. In other words, all participants in an armed criminal organization known as militia — he stressed.

The minister also assessed that Ronnie Lessa’s statements, together with the evidence that confirms the reports, proved to be “completely incoherent, compatible with the objective dynamics of the facts”.

— Collaboration shows, and from this the Federal Police continued the investigations, the motivation for the crime and the method of payment. And if we analyze them together, they are totally interconnected – he added.

Still according to the rapporteur, the process instruction also proved the “real interaction” of the Brazão family with militia groups from Jacarepaguá, Largo do Tanque, Gardênia Azul, Rio das Pedras, Osvaldo Cruz and surrounding areas.

The minister also refuted the argument of one of the defendants’ defenses, which pointed out that residents in the Rio das Pedras region voted for left-wing candidates. According to Moraes, the two points are “absolutely different things”.

— Only those allowed by the militia can enter a place dominated by the militia. In 2022, we had problems in a militia region in Niterói, there was a need to order the Armed Forces to go to that location, because they were preventing voters from voting. And it doesn’t mean that everyone who lives there agrees with the militia. Good people revolt with the militia. But the militias do not allow candidates who are not linked to the militias to campaign in these locations — he highlighted.

The minister also stated that he saw “fully characterized” the practice of belonging to an armed criminal organization by Domingos and João Francisco Brazão. Moraes highlighted that the motivation for the crime took into account what he called “two vectors”, territorial domain and political domain.

— Because it was in the legislative field that the conflicts between the Brazãos and the councilor became greater and unavoidable, leading exactly to crime. To maintain these two major vectors, the maintenance by the militia of its economic-territorial dominance, and on the other side its political dominance, these two vectors are always directing the perpetrators of the crimes — he pointed out.

At the beginning of the session, the rapporteur voted to dismiss all preliminary questions raised by the defenses in oral arguments held this Tuesday, 25th, in particular the one that supported the nullity of the plea bargain of the person who carried out the crime, Ronnie Lessa – sentenced to 78 years in prison for the murders of Marielle and Anderson.

PGR asks for conviction

On Tuesday, for eight and a half hours, the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) and the defendants’ defense lawyers supported their arguments.

On that occasion, the two parties focused on discussing the validation of the statement made by Ronnie Lessa, the parliamentarian’s confessed murderer, and the testimony of militia member Orlando Oliveira de Araújo, known as Orlando Curicica.

The deputy attorney general of the Republic, Hindenburgo Chateaubriand Filho, asked for the conviction of the five defendants and defended the testimony of Orlando Curicica and the testimony of Ronnie Lessa.

— Orlando became, like many who helped to uncover the intricacies of the criminal organization, a repentant, whose testimony causes true horror to the leaders of these organizations, precisely because it reveals their structures, their participants, their ways of acting — said the deputy attorney general. — It doesn’t matter that he’s a militiaman. What matters is the coherence in what he says.

Hindenburgo also highlighted the relevance of Lessa’s statements, maintaining that several pieces of information he presented were confirmed throughout the investigation.

During the period reserved for the defenses, the lawyers took turns in speeches that qualified the reports that guided the accusation as a “lie”, “mental creation” and “chimera”, and also pointed out “absolute disconnection”, “absolute fasting regarding the evidence in the case”.

— Lessa’s denunciation is a mental creation. He has one virtue: he is articulate, intelligent, writes well. The manuscript that precedes the denunciation is concatenated, well done, with refined ideas. This virtue he has. In his answers during the trial instruction, he avoided difficulties, creating a kind of strategic pause in his reasoning to organize his thoughts. But she stumbles on the facts. Denunciation must be the way to prove it — said lawyer Cleber Lopes de Oliveira, defender of former federal deputy Chiquinho Brazão.

Chiquinho and his brother, Domingos Brazão, counselor at the Rio State Court of Auditors (TCE-RJ), are accused of being the masterminds of the crime and are also responsible for attempted murder against Fernanda Chaves, Marielle’s advisor who was in the car and was injured by shrapnel in the attack, in addition to being part of a criminal organization. Hindenburgo was categorical in stating that the Brazão brothers actively participated in a criminal organization in the Southwest Zone of Rio:

— The criminal organization made up of the accused and militia members systematically carried out crimes such as extortion.