At last, justice came. On October 31st two former policemen were sentenced to a combined 138 years in prison for murdering Marielle Franco, a councillor they killed in Rio de Janeiro in 2018. A gay black woman from a favela, Ms Franco was an icon of Brazil’s left. She had made it her mission to expose links between local politicians and militias in Rio. The assassination shocked a nation inured to violence. She may have been killed for denouncing attempts by militia members to seize public land illegally and build on it.
