Brazilian police arrest lawmaker, two others in 2018 murder of Rio council member

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilian police arrested three people on Sunday, including a federal lawmaker and former police chief, accused of planning and ordering the 2018 murder of Rio de Janeiro city council member Marielle Franco and her driver.

Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski told a news conference the arrests close a six-year-old case that offered a look at how organized crime has infiltrated public institutions in Rio. Federal police arrested Congressman Chiquinho Brazao, his brother Domingos Brazao, a councilor on the Rio de Janeiro state audit court, and former Rio police chief Rivaldo Barbosa, Lewandowski said.

The two brothers ordered the 2018 hit, while Barbosa - who became police chief a day before the murder took place - helped with planning and later worked to sabotage the investigation, the federal police investigation found.

“This investigation is a kind of x-ray of how militias and organized crime operate in Rio de Janeiro and at how there is a, let’s say, intertwining with some political bodies and some public bodies,” he said.

The justice minister considered the case closed, but said that the findings could lead them to solve other cases or open new investigations.

Beyond the arrest warrants, police served 12 search and seizure warrants. Bank accounts linked to those involved were frozen, said the minister.

Four other people, including Barbosa’s wife and a former head of Rio homicide investigations, will have to wear electronic ankle bracelets and are barred from speaking to each other, said Lewandowski.