Brazilian MPs allegedly ordered husband to be murdered by children

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Brazilian MP and Evangelical Pastor Flordelis dos Santos (archive)

A Brazilian MP and evangelical pastor allegedly incited some of her more than 50 children to murder her husband. The public prosecutor in Rio de Janeiro therefore brought charges against Flordelis dos Santos on Monday. The act was therefore preceded by a family quarrel over power and money as well as numerous murder attempts.

Dos Santos and her husband, Pastor Anderson do Carmo, who was killed by around 30 bullets last year, were central figures in Brazil's powerful evangelical movement. In addition to their four biological children, they adopted 50 street children from the favelas - the slums - of Rio.

The couple is said to have fought over financial control

As the investigators have now explained, Dos Santos is said to have been controlling the couple's finances. Accordingly, her husband had prevented her from giving "preferential treatment" to her favorite children.

The 59-year-old tried to poison her husband at least six times before ordering some adult children to murder, the investigators said. One of her biological sons is said to have shot the then 42-year-old Do Carmo in the couple's garage in a suburb of Rio. An adopted son bought the murder weapon. Both have been in prison for a year.

Dos Santos tried to make it look like her husband had fallen victim to a failed burglary, the investigators said. They also accused the pastor and politician of "that their whole picture of altruism and morality was just a means to achieve a financial and political position," as Commissioner Allan Duarte said on television.

Parliament must lift immunity

In total, the prosecutor charged ten other suspects besides Dos Santos. However, before the MP can be arrested, the Brazilian parliament must first lift her immunity.

Dos Santos "is very angry about everything that is happening because she is innocent," said her lawyer, according to Brazilian media reports. "She never ordered this cruel crime."

Dos Santos was elected to Congress in 2018 for the Conservative Social Democratic Party (PSD). She was born in a favela in Rios herself and met Do Carmo in 1994. Together they founded an evangelical Christian community.

mfh / AFP