International Amnesty calls for answer to Marielle Franco case

Six months after the killing of Rio city councilor Marielle Franco and her driver Anderson Gomes, Amnesty International once again called for answers to the crime. In a truck being driven around the city with a five-meter long LED screen, the organization will show phrases like “Six months ago, Marielle Franco was brutally killed,” “Still no answers,” and “Brazilian authorities, who killed Marielle?”

The truck will be taken to places like the buildings of the Prosecution Service, the Secretariat for Public Security, the Integrated Command and Control Center, and the Joaquim Palhares street, in the Estácio district, where the killings took place.

Franco’s family members still hope for an answer. Her mother Marinete Silva said they were received by Security Secretary Richard Nunes for the first time. “The meeting was good, he welcomed us and promised the case would be brought to light. Of course we can’t predict information or estimate a date, but they’re working on it. Once again, we need to trust,” Silva said.

Antônio Francisco, Franco’s father, said he believes in the work conducted by the police. “If the Rio de Janeiro police are in no conditions to continue the investigations and give us an answer, whom should we believe? So we keep hoping, waiting for a positive answer from the authorities,” he said.

Amnesty International Executive-Director Jurema Werneck stressed that the NGO is still demanding an independent investigation, with a team formed by jurists and experts not linked to the government.

“Six months without Franco and no answers—it’s not acceptable. What we want is for the authorities to come out to the public and say who did the killing, who told them to do it and why. For all this time, authorities have confused secrecy in the probes with silence on the authorities’ part,” she argued.

Marielle Franco, of the Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL), was gunned down on March 14 after she left an event with her driver, who was also murdered. She was known for her work as an activist in defense of human rights and against police violence.

*Trainee reporter under the supervision of Mario Toledo