Justice convicts two former police officers linked to Rio’s first militia

The 3rd Jury Court of Rio de Janeiro convicted militia members André Luiz da Silva Malvar and Ricardo Teixeira Cruz, known as Batman, for homicides committed in 2007. Former civil police officer André Malvar was sentenced to 72 years and six months in prison for four aggravated homicides, two of which were attempted, as well as armed association, while former military police officer Batman was sentenced to 18 years and six months for attempted murder with double qualification and armed association. The sentence must be served in a closed regime. Prosecutor Carmen Eliza de Carvalho demonstrated to the jury that the crimes were committed out of revenge, in the dispute over control of alternative transport points in the west zone of Rio and in the Lagos Region. The victims were ambushed when they were next to Francisco Cesar da Silva de Oliveira, Chico Bala, considered a rival of the convicts. The wife and stepson of Chico Bala, who escaped the ambush with his cousin, died. When setting the sentence, the Court took into account the audacity of the criminals, “who committed the crime in broad daylight, in the eyes of the surrounding population, certain of their impunity”. He also emphasized that the convicts are responsible for the banalization of behavioral rules with the creation of the so-called Justice League.

Agência Brasil