Categories: Politics

Arrested on charges of killing Marielle is convicted of arms trafficking

Arrested on charges of killing Marielle is convicted of arms trafficking

Retired military police officer Ronnie Lessa, preventively detained at the Federal Penitentiary for Maximum Security in Campo Grande, on charges of having murdered Rio councilor Marielle Franco (PSOL) and driver Anderson Gomes in 2018, was sentenced to five years in prison. for attempted international arms trafficking. According to the sentence published last Thursday night, the 4th, and revealed this Sunday, the 7th, by the website Legal AdviserLessa will have to start serving his sentence already in a closed regime, and the preventive detention because of this case was maintained.

The ex-policeman was accused in this case after the Federal Revenue Service seized, in February 2017, at Galeão International Airport, in Rio, 16 “flamebreakers” for AR-15 rifles – this equipment serves to reduce the glare caused by the shots of the rifles, generally used by professional shooters in order to draw less attention when they shoot.

The order for the seized equipment was addressed to a gym, but the address used was the residential address of Lessa and his wife, Elaine Lessa. She was acquitted of participating in the crime.

In addition to the attempt to hide the recipient of the order, the accusation against Lessa was influenced by the fact that the “flame breaker” is an artifact of restricted use, the purchase of which requires authorization from the Army. He also mentioned the fact that the order includes several pieces, which makes it difficult to characterize personal use.

The ex-policeman’s defense claimed that the pieces were not “flamebreakers”, but “mouth brakes” – equipment that serves to reduce the “recoil” in the rifle caused by the shots. The “mouth brakes” are not controlled by the Army. In addition, the defense claimed that the equipment ordered would be used in replica weapons, such as those used in the practice of “air soft”. He also claimed that, recently, a decree changed the classification of equipment and the “flamebreakers” were no longer controlled by the Army.

With that, the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) requested new technical expertise on the equipment, which refuted the allegations of Lessa’s defense. In the face of new reports, according to the sentence, signed by Judge Adriana Alves dos Santos Cruz, of the 5th Federal Criminal Court of Rio de Janeiro of the Federal Justice, there was no doubt “the classification of the products whose illegal importation was intended to be consummated as flame-breakers, nor its functionality”.

“The facts found in these records are especially serious, in view of the quantity and purpose of the accessories seized. As explained by the Magistrate who was prosecuting at the time of receiving the complaint and ordering the preventive detention, the imported material is intended to make it difficult to identify the origin of the AR-15 rifle shots, ordinarily used by criminal organizations that control vast territories in the city of Rio de Janeiro. de Janeiro, where they terrorize, injure and kill residents and public security agents indiscriminately”, reads the sentence.

Source: CNN Brasil