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Rio de Janeiro (AFP)

Brazilian authorities are investigating a suspected conspiracy by state employees, militia members and organized crime to obstruct the investigation into the killing of black rights activist Marielle Franco, the government said Thursday.

Franco, a charismatic city council member in Rio de Janeiro and champion of LGBTQ and black rights, was shot dead along with her driver on March 14 in a murder that bore the hallmarks of a professional hit, triggering an international outcry.

Public Security Minister Raul Jungmann said the government had received "serious accusations" from two witnesses that there was "a criminal organization" trying to obstruct the investigation into their deaths.

It allegedly involves "public agents from various state entities, militia members and figures from the world of organized crime," he told a press conference.

The two witnesses who came forward have been given police protection, he said.

Franco was also an outspoken critic of police brutality in Rio, and what she said was the targeting of blacks in its teeming, poverty-stricken slums, or favelas.

The latest development in the murky case comes four days after the presidential election victory of far-right former army captain Jair Bolsonaro, who has outraged many in Brazil and beyond with his derogatory comments against women, blacks and gays.

© 2018 AFP