The shooting death of activist Franco has raised questions about political violence and corruption within Brazil’s government.
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Published February 26, 2026
A panel of Brazil’s Supreme Court has convicted five men accused of plotting to assassinate human rights leader-turned-politician Mariel Franco and her driver Anderson Gomez in 2018.
Wednesday’s ruling, unanimously agreed by the panel’s judges, was the climax of a high-profile case that raised questions of polarization, corruption and race in Brazilian society.
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As the court sentenced the five defendants to decades-long sentences, Judge Carmen Lucia told the victims’ families: “No human justice can alleviate this pain.”
At the time of his death, Franco, 38, was just a year into his term as a city councilor in Rio de Janeiro. She was considered an up-and-coming member of the left-wing Socialist and Liberal Party.
Franco, a black woman from a favela, a densely populated, low-income area of Brazil, was best known for her advocacy for the rights of LGBTQ people, racial minorities, and women.
She also used her platform to denounce excessive police violence in favelas and illegal land grabbing by local governments.
On March 14, 2018, a car pulled up to the car carrying Franco and Gómez after an evening debate in Rio de Janeiro.
The assailant fired 13 shots into the car. Franco and Gomez were killed, and their aides who were also in the car were injured.
Prosecutors said the attack was an assassination aimed at silencing Franco and preventing him from fighting back against powerful interests.
In Wednesday’s ruling, Supreme Court justices found that former congressman Chiquinho Brazao and his brother Domingos Brazao, a member of the Rio State Audit Court, conspired to kill Franco in response to his efforts to stop illegal land grabbing.
The two brothers had benefited from efforts to claim public land for private development in Rio de Janeiro. Previously, they were considered one of the most powerful politicians in the city.
The two were arrested in 2024 and both were sentenced to 76 years in prison as part of Wednesday’s sentencing.
Three of the co-defendants were also sentenced to long prison terms. One of them, Robson Calixto Fonseca, an assistant to the Brazao brothers, was sentenced to nine years in prison for conspiracy.
The other two were law enforcement officers. Former police investigator Rivaldo Barbosa was sentenced to 18 years in prison for passive corruption and obstruction of justice. Police officer Ronald Paulo Alves Pereira was convicted of murder and attempted murder and sentenced to 56 years in prison.
All five people convicted in Wednesday’s decision denied responsibility for the crimes.
Prosecutors have acknowledged that information from the two men who carried out the car attack implicated five alleged co-conspirators.
The suspects were previously identified as two former police officers, Ronnie Ressa and Elcio Queiroz. They were arrested in 2019 as perpetrators of a serial murder case.
Prosecutors say the two eventually signed a plea deal that led to the Brazao brothers’ arrests. Mr. Ressa and Mr. Queiroz were sentenced in October 2024 to 78 and 59 years in prison, respectively.
Authorities have also suggested that the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who returned to office in 2023, has paved the way for a broader investigation.
Announcing Wednesday’s vote, Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the killings were part of a “militia tactic” carried out “to maintain economic interests and maintain political power.”
Meanwhile, human rights group Amnesty International called this week’s hearings a “defining test” of Brazil’s “stand against impunity.”
