Former military police officer Ronnie Lessa said this Tuesday (27) that the defendants accused of the murder of councilwoman Marielle Franco and driver Anderson Gomes, in 2018, are “highly dangerous people”.
A confessed defendant in the execution of the murders and one of the informants in the investigation, Lessa gave virtual testimony in the criminal action opened by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) that will decide whether the Brazão brothers and other defendants will be convicted for acting as masterminds of the crime.
The former police officer is being held in the Tremembé penitentiary in São Paulo and gave testimony via video conference to the assistant judge in the office of Minister Alexandre de Moraes, the rapporteur for the case. He was named in the prosecution, which is being carried out by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR).
The defendants in the case are the advisor to the Court of Auditors of Rio de Janeiro (TCE-RJ), Domingos Brazão, his brother, Chiquinho Brazão, federal deputy (No Party-RJ), the former head of the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro Rivaldo Barbosa and the Major of the Military Police Ronald Paulo de Alves Pereira. All are charged with the crimes of homicide and organized crime and are in prison.
At the beginning of the testimony, Lessa’s defense requested that the Brazão brothers not be present. According to the lawyers, the former police officer wants to keep his statements confidential because he is an informant.
“We are not dealing with ordinary people, they are highly dangerous people, just like I was,” he said.
Ronnie Lessa also stated that he heard from the Brazão brothers that Marielle was “a stumbling block” in the illegal subdivision business in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro. The conversation allegedly took place at the first meeting in which Lessa received the request to kill the councilwoman.
According to the former police officer, the accused commented: “She [Marielle] “He’s going to get into trouble, he’s going to fight the condominiums. It’s going to get worse when he finds out it’s ours,” the brothers are said to have said.
The whistleblower also stated that Domingos and Chiquinho Brazão had influence in the Rio Civil Police and said they had the “police in their hands”.
According to him, they demonstrated “respect” by mentioning the name of Rivaldo Barbosa, who is also a defendant in the case and accused of planning the crime and hindering the investigations.
“They talked about Rivaldo Barbosa, they showed a lot of respect for Rivaldo. Something different,” he added.
Greed
At another point in his testimony, Lessa became emotional when he recalled that he was almost killed during a robbery in Rio. The former police officer said that he was grazed by a bullet in the neck when the robbers took the Bulova watch he was wearing.
Ronnie Lessa also expressed regret for the crime and said that he agreed to carry out the murder out of “greed”. In his testimony, he stated that the Brazão brothers had promised benefits when they ordered the councilwoman’s death.
“I’m here, regretful. I didn’t need this, it was greed. I’m alive, I’m a living witness to what happened. I let myself get carried away. I’m going to pay what I owe. My regret hit me that same day,” he said.
The testimony was suspended around 7:10 pm and will resume tomorrow (28).
Around 70 witnesses are expected to testify in the criminal case. The defendants’ statements will only be taken at the end of the trial.
* Text updated at 7:21 pm to add information from the statement.
