By Fabio Teixeira and Ricardo Brito
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazilian police arrested three people on Sunday, including a federal lawmaker, in connection with the 2018 murder of Rio de Janeiro city councilor Marielle Franco and her driver, two told Reuters federal police sources.
Federal police arrested MP Chiquinho Brazao, his brother Domingos Brazao, counselor of the Rio de Janeiro State Court of Auditors (TCE), and former Rio police chief Rivaldo Barbosa, the two sources said.
Police said in a statement that they had issued three arrest warrants and 12 search and seizure warrants in connection with the killing, but did not name names.
Police officers arrived at the TCE headquarters early Sunday morning to execute a search and seizure warrant at the office of Domingos Brazao, the auditors said in a statement.
Chiquinho Brazao’s office and Rio police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In March 2019, two former police officers were indicted on charges of shooting Franco and his driver, and last year police arrested another suspect connected to the case.
Franco, 38, was a black, openly gay and progressive councilor born in a poor neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. Investigators believe the murder was a political assassination carried out by paid hitmen.
A rising star of the Party of Socialism and Freedom (PSOL), Franco was an outspoken critic of police killings of Rio’s slum residents and his death sparked nationwide protests by Brazilians fed up with endemic violence.