The Trial That Never Happened

Ana Clara Gomes Machado was five years old and used to say she wanted to be just like her mother when she grew up. On the morning of February 2, 2021, while playing outside her home, she was struck by four rifle rounds fired by a military police officer in Rio de Janeiro. The Civil Police detective who arrived at the scene of the killing stated there was no doubt as to who fired the shots: Corporal Bruno Delaroli. The case remained without a trial for five years. Just as the family believed justice was within reach, a new lawyer joined the case, and to this day, the officer has yet to stand trial. That lawyer was, at the time, a sitting senator—now a candidate for the Presidency of the Republic—Flávio Bolsonaro. What was a senator’s motive for defending a man caught in the act of murdering a child? To this day, her mother, Cristiane Gomes da Silva, mourns the loss of her daughter and the justice that never arrived.