00:00Almost a decade on and one step closer to justice.
00:04On Wednesday, a five-judge panel ruled to convict the five suspects in the killing of Rio de Janeiro councilwoman
00:11Marielle Franco and her driver Anderson Gomez in a case that continues to stir deep emotion in a politically divided
00:18nation.
00:19A prominent politician, feminist and human rights activist, Franco was gunned down alongside Gomez on March 14, 2018, after leaving
00:28a public event.
00:28The investigation, which spanned several years and faced numerous delays, eventually led to the highest levels of local power.
00:36The families of the victims called for justice.
00:40It's time for us to also have the Brazilian state, the state of Rio de Janeiro especially, to have a
00:45response regarding those who ordered this barbaric act that was the murder of Marielle and Anderson.
00:53Today's trial has the power to give a very important answer, that institutional positions don't serve as a shield for
01:00committing crimes, because it's not just whoever pulls the trigger who kills, but also who obstructs the investigation, whoever orders
01:07the killing, whoever pays for someone's death.
01:09Former federal lawmaker Chiquinho Brazal and his brother Domingos were among those convicted of hiring hitmen to protect their links
01:18to Rio's militias, illegal armed gangs whose land seizures and extortion rackets were directly threatened by Franco's work.
01:25Our expectation is to finally see justice done, to finally see Brazil send a message to the world that it's
01:32time to turn the page on impunity.
01:35With the convictions now finalized, the focus shifts to sentencing, potentially bringing a legal conclusion to a crime that has
01:42come to symbolize the struggle against political violence and systemic corruption in Brazil.
01:47It's very important this morning.
01:48It's very important this morning.
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