How were the testimonies of Marielle’s family members in the Lessa and Queiroz trial

“They even said: ‘It wasn’t enough. It could have been burned.’” With her voice choked, the mother of former councilor Marielle Franco, Marinete Silva, recalled in testimony, for around 40 minutes, the before and after the murder of her daughter and driver Anderson Gomes, in 2018, to the jurors of the 4th Court of the Rio de Janeiro Jury.

Six years and seven months after the parliamentarian’s death, Marinete is one of seven prosecution witnesses heard this Wednesday (30), in the trial of former military police officers Ronnie Lessa and Élcio Queiroz, accused of being the perpetrators of the crime.

“We had so many fakes (news) with my daughter. We had so much attack. They even said: ‘It wasn’t enough. It could have been burned.’ This is very harsh”, said Marinete.

The second witness to testify, Marinete cried when she listened to audios sent by Marielle before the crime and asked for justice for her daughter’s murder: “I just want a fair conviction”.

“I’m not about to talk about my daughter as a parliamentarian. I’m like a mother. She fought hard: she studied and got to where she is. That was barbaric. No mother deserves to lose her daughter like this. I want to ask for justice for Marielle and Anderson”, he said.

Ronnie Lessa and Élcio Queiroz followed the statements via video conference directly from the units where they are detained. Lessa is in the Tremembé Penitentiary, in the interior of São Paulo. Élcio is now at the Inclusion and Rehabilitation Center, in Brasília.

“I did not create hatred in my heart. I created a lot of pain. Of course, at some point, there is sadness and anger”, said Marinete.

Before Marinete, parliamentary advisor Fernanda Chaves was the first to testify. One of the main witnesses in the case, Fernanda is the surviving victim of the attack that killed former councilor Marielle Franco. She was in the car next to Marielle when they were returning to the Tijuca neighborhood, in the north of Rio, after participating in a meeting with black women in Lapa, in the center.

Marielle’s former advisor recalled the day of the crime and said that she had to change her routine and change cities. She also mentioned the apprehension of the entire family after the execution of the councilor, with whom she had been friends for 15 years.

“I heard a gust in our direction. I realized it was a gust towards the car. On reflex, I ducked. I was behind Anderson and next to Marielle. I slipped behind Anderson’s bench. I realized that the car was hit, but it was still moving. Anderson showed pain, said ‘ouch’, but it was a sigh. I remember the car was moving, but I remember his arms falling off. Marielle was motionless and her body fell on top of me,” he said.

She also said that she had to immediately leave the house where she lived, in Tijuca, north of Rio, to find refuge in another country. Fernanda said that she was asked by her daughter why they needed to seek protection and “what murder was”.

“My six-year-old daughter asked me what murder was. She didn’t understand why we needed to run away. She was passionate about school. We left everything behind. She felt in danger and we tried to protect her. To this day, this has an impact on our lives,” he said.

“Refinements of cruelty”

Marielle’s widow, Mônica Benício, was also one of the witnesses interviewed this Wednesday afternoon. According to Mônica, the confirmation that the woman was executed arrived with the “cruelty refinement of surprise, of doubt”.

“Marielle’s murder, the news of her death, when it came with the confirmation that it was an execution, and not an attempted robbery or something like that, it also had within it this refined cruelty of surprise, of doubt, of why did it go to Marielle.”

At several moments during the testimony, Mônica could not contain her tears and stated that the only justice would be to have “Marielle and Anderson alive”.

“If I said justice, perhaps I could misread that sentence because the only possible justice would be not having to be here and having Marielle and Anderson alive. Furthermore, as far as possible, I hope that the justice that Brazil, the world, has been waiting for for six years and seven months will be served,” he said.

“I hope they pay for what they did”

Lawyer Ágatha Arnaus, widow of driver Anderson Gomes, recalled what the last day of her husband’s life was like. She said that Marielle’s driver was preparing for a job as an aviation mechanic and her husband’s dream of being a father.

“I had never done anything without Anderson, I always had him by my side. I was 27 and couldn’t process it all. There were several things to balance, I didn’t know if I would go back to studying, I wanted to do something for myself. I remember a phrase my father told me: ‘Everything I did from then on would be the first time without Anderson’”, Ágatha recalled.

Anderson’s widow said she had to take care of her son, Arthur, alone and spoke about the difficulties of raising her autistic son without his father’s presence. “I hope that the people who took Anderson away from me, who took away Arthur’s father, pay for what they did,” he said.

“The same year that Anderson died, I had to take Arthur alone to operate on an intestinal obstruction. The doctors even said that he wouldn’t make it and that I had to be prepared. At that moment, without Anderson, I thought my family, the one I created, was over. I thought I was going to go crazy that day. I repeated several times that Arthur was the last thing I had left of Anderson”, said Agatha.

(With Estadão Content)

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