RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Federal Prosecutor General, Raquel Dodge, petitioned, on Tuesday, September 17th, the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) grant federal court jurisdiction in the investigation of alleged irregularities in the local police investigation of the murder of councilwoman Marielle Franco and her driver Anderson Gomes.
If the request for federal jurisdiction is accepted by the STJ, it will be up to the federal courts, and no longer the state judiciary, to take over and hear the case.
In the same request for transfer of jurisdiction of the trial, Raquel Dodge submitted a request to open a new investigation against suspects who had participated in the “staging of an investigation” to conduct the investigation of bogus suspects and conceal the identity of the true perpetrators of the murders.
The request was made after the prosecutor general analyzed the attempt to obstruct the investigations. During the process of analyzing the transfer of jurisdiction of the case, a copy of the investigation file that was in progress in Rio de Janeiro’s courts was requested by the prosecutor, but the sharing of information was denied by the judge presiding over the case.
Dodge ends this Tuesday, September 17th, a two-year term as head of the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF). During the period in which she headed the MPF, the prosecutor filed 64 complaints against 224 people, 19 requests for ratification of award-winning reports, and 427 requests for extradition.
In the place of Raquel Dodge, President Jair Bolsonaro appointed deputy prosecutor general Augusto Aras. Before taking office, Aras must be approved by the Constitution and
Justice Commission (CCJ) of the Senate and by the full Senate. The nomination is expected to be voted on September 25th.
Until approval, the vice-president of the MPF Superior Council, Alcides Martins, will temporarily be in charge of the Prosecutor General’s Office.
(Source: Agência Brasil)