A HANDFUL of quiet memorials took place in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday remembering Marielle Franco, the black councilor gunned down a month ago in a killing that made international headlines but for which no-one has been arrested. The 38-year-old, who was a critic of police brutality and an outspoken advocate for minorities, was shot dead on March 14 in an assassination-style killing with four bullets to the head.

At one ceremony in Largo do Machao Square, people had hung up swathes of brightly-colored fabrics and balloons alongside messages asking: “Who ordered Marielle’s murder?” “Our day-to-day existence is about activism. It comes from pain, from longing,” said Marcelo Freixo, a state legislator and friend of Franco who was among the mourners. “We feel embraced by events like these because it shows that our work wasn’t in vain,” said Franco’s sister, Anielle Barboza.

Although the murder of Franco and her driver sent shockwaves through Brazil, the police investigation appears to have stalled. Public Security Minister Raul Jungmann confirmed that the bullets used were police issue, but he claimed they had been stolen from the force “years ago” in an area more than 2,000 kms away.

Amnesty International urged the government to solve the crime. “Brazilian authorities must prioritise solving the killing of human rights defender Marielle Franco and her driver, Anderson Gomes, and bring all those responsible to justice,” it said.

As a black woman from the Mare favela, one of the city’s most violent areas, Franco stunned many when she was elected to a city council seat in 2016. She won fame as a rights activist, particularly for highlighting police brutality in the impoverished, sometimes lawless favela districts.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2018