The Federal Court of Amapá determined this Tuesday (3) that two Brazilians accused of having shot dead two French police officers be tried by the Jury Court next Wednesday (4). They are also charged with the attempted murder of 22 other men.
Ronaldo Silva Lima, known as “Brabo”, and Manoel Moura Ferreira, known as “Manoelzinho”, were accused of having murdered, with rifle shots, in June 2012, Sebastien Pissot and Stéphane Moralia. Both were part of the Gendarmerie, a grouping that integrates the French National Force.
French police were killed as they were rappelling down from a helicopter in an illegal gold mining area in Dorlin, in the municipality of Maripasoula, in southwestern French Guiana.
“Manoelzinho” and “Brabo” were arrested a month after the crimes, in a hotel in the Amapá capital of Macapá, by the Special Operations Battalion (BOPE).
However, Manoel Moura Ferreira, who was imprisoned at the Instituto de Administração Penitenciária do Amapá (Iapen), died earlier this year – after being admitted to the hospital with breathing difficulties. Because of this, the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) asked the Justice to declare the defendant’s punishment extinct.
Ronaldo Silva Lima, who is still imprisoned in Iapen, will have to attend the trial in person. For this, the judge ordered that an escort be provided to take him to the place.
France’s liaison magistrate in Brazil, Alain Zakrajsek, is expected to attend the trial, given the special interest in the case by the French.
In the region where the crimes took place, about 200 km from Cayenne – the capital of French Guiana -, at the time, there were several illegal gold mines in the middle of the forest.
According to investigations, “Manoelzinho” headed the best-known criminal gang in that region and would have dominated all the clandestine mining after becoming famous for having massacred a rival gang.
Source: CNN Brasil
