Soldier arrested in PF operation says he knows who ordered the killing of Marielle Franco

Army reserve soldier Ailton Barros, arrested this Wednesday (3) by the Federal Police in the operation that investigates alleged fraud in vaccination cards, said in audio messages to Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid that he knows who ordered the murder of councilor Marielle Franco in 2018, in Rio de Janeiro.

The statement was discovered during the analysis of messages captured on November 30, 2021 by investigators with authorization from Justice. Barros explained to Cid that former Rio de Janeiro councilor Marcello Moraes Siciliano (PP), who was mentioned in the investigations into Marielle’s death, would have intermediated the insertion of false vaccination data in the portfolio of Gabriela Santiago Cid, wife of the former adjutant of the Planalto Palace.

As a result, Barros asked Cid to facilitate a meeting between Siciliano and the US consul in Brazil to resolve a visa-related problem, which would have been canceled due to investigations into the murder.

Barros says that Siciliano was unfairly accused of being the one who ordered the death of the former councilor and that there was no confession of the crime – it would be a “political persecution”, he justified. The reserve officer claims that the former councilor had been sending e-mails to the consulate to try to revalidate the visa, but without receiving any response, and thus asked for help in contacting the consul.

“I know this story of Marielle, all sister, I know who sent it. I know f*all. Did you understand? He’s on the fence about that stuff there”, said Barros in the request for help to Cid, who said he would go see what he could get through the Planalto Palace.

Sicilian was also the target of search and seizure warrants in the operation launched this Wednesday (3) by the Federal Police, but for involvement in the case of alleged adulteration of vaccination cards.

Mention of the murder of former councilor and driver Anderson Gomes should be referred for investigation in the specific inquiry that was resumed this year.

Siciliano was mentioned at the time by a military policeman who would have worked as a driver for former PM Orlando Oliveira de Araújo, known as Orlando Curicica, appointed as head of a militia that operates in the west zone of Rio de Janeiro.

He would have pointed out, in testimony, the former councilor and Curicica as ordering the deaths. However, a subsequent investigation by the PF showed that the report did not hold up, which led to a request for the federalization of the case in 2018.

A second investigation involves retired military police officer Ronnie Lessa, accused of being one of the perpetrators of the murder and who must be taken to a popular jury.