Justice increases the sentence of Ronnie Lessa, arrested after the murder of Marielle Franco

✅ Receive news from Brasil 247 and TV 247 on the Brasil 247 channel and in the 247 community on WhatsApp.

247 – The Court of Justice of the state of Rio de Janeiro (TJ-RJ) increased the sentence of former military police officer Ronnie Lessa from four to five years in a closed regime. Franco and driver Anderson Gomes. The former PM is being held in a maximum security prison in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul. Investigators are investigating whether the submachine gun used in the crime was thrown into the sea. The weapon was never located.

In the same legal process involving the disappearance of the weapons, the ex-PM’s wife, Elaine Lessa, and three other defendants had their sentences extended at the request of the Public Ministry (MPRJ). According to information published by the newspaper O Dia, Elaine and her brother, Bruno Pereira Figueiredo, received eight years in prison, José Márcio Mantovano received seven years, and Josinaldo Lucas Freitas had six years of semi-open sentence.

Former councilor Marielle Franco was murdered by members of organized crime in March 2018 in the city of Rio. To investigators, former police officer Élcio Queiroz admitted that he was driving the car from which the shots were fired at the then parliamentarian and, according to he, Ronnie Lessa was responsible for the shooting. In July, the MPRJ stated that Queiroz’s plea agreement will not remove him and Ronnie Lessa from a trial in the Jury Court.

The former police officer was arrested in 2019. He is currently in prison (he spends every day in prison). In the semi-open regime, the person can take a course or some other activity outside the penitentiary, and, in the open regime, they can return home at the end of the day and on their days off or to an establishment determined by the Judiciary.

CONTINUES AFTER RECOMMENDATIONS

The investigations showed that Lessa was researching places that the former parliamentarian frequented and the places corresponded to the parliamentarian’s daily schedules, such as English courses, college and pre-university exam classes. An address on Rua do Bispo, in Rio Comprido, central region of the capital, was the same place where Marielle was close to her death, at her ex-partner’s house.

Other people would have helped in the commission of the crime. Queiroz said that former firefighter Maxwell Simões Corrêa, known as Suel, watched Marielle. He also stated that PM sergeant Edmilson da Silva de Oliveira, Macalé, who died in 2021, was the one who presented Lessa with the “job” of executing Marielle.

In his testimony, Queiroz also mentioned Edilson Barbosa dos Santos, known as “Orelha”. According to the former police officer, the mechanic was approached by Suel to get rid of the car used in the homicide. The statement showed that Orelha had a car agency and owned a junkyard. He knew people who owned car parts.