BRASÍLIA, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil’s Supreme Court on Tuesday opened the trial of politicians accused of ordering the 2018 murder of Rio de Janeiro councilwoman Marielle Franco, a case that exposed deep ties between politics and organised crime in the city.

Franco, a black, lesbian activist who grew up in a favela and became an outspoken critic of Rio’s powerful militia groups, was 38 when she was gunned down in the city center alongside her driver, Anderson Gomes.

The two former military police officers who carried out the murders were given hefty jail terms in 2024.

The Supreme Court is now trying former federal lawmaker Chiquinho Brazao and his brother Domingos, a former state lawmaker, accused of ordering the assassination.

The prosecution says their motive was Franco’s opposition to plans that would have “legalised” land illegally seized by militias that control large parts of the city.

Marielle’s sister, Anielle Franco, Brazil’s minister of racial equality, was present in the packed courtroom as the trial began along with other family members.

It is “unacceptable that a parliamentarian be murdered,” Anielle said before entering the courtroom, adding those behind the crime must be punished.

Franco’s widow, Monica Benicio, warned in an editorial in the daily O Globo newspaper that the “criminal ecosystem that killed Marielle continues to operate and extend its tentacles.”

Rio’s militias emerged around four decades ago when former police officers and security agents created so-called self-defence groups to protect communities from drug gangs.

They quickly evolved into powerful criminal organisations, controlling large parts of the city, extorting residents, seizing public land, and benefiting from high-level political support.

Rivaldo Barbosa, a former police commissioner who first led the investigation, is also being tried for working “to ensure the impunity of those who ordered the killings.”

A former military police officer and a former advisor to Domingos Brazao are on trial as well.

The Brazao brothers deny their involvement and have challenged a plea agreement made with shooter Ronnie Lessa, a former military police officer, who confessed to his role in the murder.

Lessa, who was sentenced to 78 years in jail in 2024, said during his trial he was “blinded” and “driven crazy” by the prospect of a million-dollar reward for Franco’s murder.

The Supreme Court trial is being led by powerful justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversaw the conviction of former president Jair Bolsonaro for plotting a failed coup in 2022.

Moraes said the prosecution’s case did not rest solely on Lessa’s cooperation and that “various pieces of evidence, depositions, and documents” backed up his confession.