The Minister of Justice says that the case has continued since the PF entered the investigation, but avoids commenting on Ronnie Lessa’s collaboration: “There is only a complaint when there is approval”
Justice Minister Flávio Dino, who will leave the department in February to take up his post as minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), said there is no prospect of a conclusion in the case over the death of Rio de Janeiro councilor Marielle Franco and the driver Anderson Gomes, murdered in 2018. The transition to command of the department declared this in a press conference on Tuesday 23rd.
While he could not specify “days or months”, Dino said it was estimated that the investigation was nearing its end and that the case had made progress since the Federal Police (PF) entered the investigation. “The PF is one of the best in the world, recognized as such, and its entry into the case a year ago, with my determination, has led to closer collaboration with the Public Prosecutor of Rio de Janeiro (MPRJ).”
The case, which will end six years in March, “has never stopped, there is a dedicated team”, the minister said.
Earlier this month, however, the director general of the PF, Andrei Rodrigues, said that the investigation should be concluded in the first quarter of this year. “This is a challenge that the PF took up last year. We are less than a year away from this investigation, into a crime that happened five years ago, but with the belief that in this first quarter the Federal Police will give a definitive answer of the Marielle case,” Rodrigues declared then, setting a deadline for the conclusion of the case.
In Tuesday’s interview Dino avoided commenting on the complaint by Ronnie Lessa, a former military police officer identified by the investigation as the killer of Marielle and Anderson. In his testimony he would have denounced the instigator of the crime. Dino said he was unable to confirm the information. “Legally there is a complaint only when there is approval.”
“I can neither confirm nor deny. It is something that all of us, together, will know at the appropriate time from a procedural point of view,” said the minister, who also informed that only the delegates in charge of the investigation have details on the case.
The case already had a plea agreement in July 2023, when the former military police officer of Rio de Janeiro, Élcio Vieira de Queiroz, highlighted the participation of the group led by the criminal Bernardo Bello in the murder. Élcio also provided the name of someone allegedly responsible for hiring Lessa. The whistleblower cited military police officer Edimilson Oliveira da Silva, known as “Macalé,” who was murdered in November 2021, as the alleged contractor.
Dino recalled this statement as the only one approved by the Judiciary and stated that it is “natural that there are new investigative measures” based on its developments, which “could lead to other statements”.
In a statement released to the press on Tuesday 23rd, the PF informed that the investigations remain confidential and that, so far, only Élcio’s statement has been approved. “The disclosure and repercussion of information that does not correspond to reality compromises investigative work and exposes citizens,” the institution states.
Source: Terra
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