União Brasil expels deputy Brazão after arrest in Marielle case

Executive

The decision was announced on Sunday night (24), after he was arrested, suspected of having councilor Marielle Franco killed.

The National Executive of União Brasil unanimously approved the expulsion of federal deputy Chiquinho Brazão (RJ) from the party. The decision was announced on Sunday night (24), after he was arrested, suspected of ordering the murder of councilor Marielle Franco. According to the note released by the party, Brazão had his party membership canceled.

“The decision of the National Executive indicates that Brazão is involved in at least three illicit conducts provided for in article 95 of the Statute: political activity contrary to the Democratic Rule of Law, the Democratic Regime and party interests; lack of exactingness in fulfilling duties relating to public and party functions and political violence against women”, explained the party, in a statement.

The representation against Chiquinho Brazão was presented by federal deputy Alexandre Leite (União-SP) and reported by senator Efraim Filho (União-PB). Also on Sunday, the president of the party, Antonio de Rueda, had requested the opening of disciplinary proceedings against the parliamentarian suspected of ordering Marielle to be killed.

“União Brasil emphatically repudiates any crimes, especially those that undermine the Democratic Rule of Law and those that involve violence against women. The party leadership expresses deep solidarity with the families of Marielle and Anderson”, concludes the party’s note.

Federal deputy Chiquinho Brazão is in his second term in the Chamber of Deputies, elected in October 2022 with more than 77 thousand votes. Previously, he was a Rio de Janeiro city councilor for four consecutive terms. He is one of three accused of ordering the murder of councilor Marielle, murdered in March 2018, and driver Anderson Gomes.

Chamber of Deputies

Federal deputy Chiquinho Brazão still needs to have his arrest analyzed by the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies, which could keep him in prison or release him.

According to the Federal Constitution, deputies and senators are inviolable, civilly and criminally, for opinions, words and votes and cannot be arrested, except in the act of a non-bailable crime. In these situations, the files are sent to the Chamber or the Senate so that the absolute majority of the House (in the case of the Chamber, the vote of 257 deputies) decides, in an open vote, on the arrest.

Motivation

According to investigations, the murder of Marielle Franco was motivated by land issues involving militias in Rio de Janeiro. The Federal Police (PF) report cites a disagreement between Marielle Franco and the political group of then councilor Chiquinho Brazão around Bill (PL) 174/2016, which sought to formalize a condominium in the West Zone of the capital of Rio de Janeiro.

Citing an “uncontrolled reaction” by Chiquinho Brazão due to the tight result of the PL vote in the plenary of the City Council, according to a PF report, the minister stated that the crime began to be prepared in the second half of 2017.

“It seems to me that this entire voluminous set of documents that we received – this is an extremely significant excerpt – shows the basic motivation for the murder of councilwoman Marielle Franco, who was precisely opposed to this group that, in the Rio de Janeiro City Council, wanted to regularize lands to use them for commercial purposes, while the councilor’s group wanted to use these lands for social purposes, for popular housing”, stated the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Ricardo Lewandowski.

Chiquinho Brazão released a statement on March 20, after the accusation of being the mastermind was leaked in the press, stating that he was “surprised by the speculation” and that his relationship with Marielle had always been “friendly and cordial”.

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