In Brazil, the mother of 55 children and the ex-congresswoman received 50 years for the murder of her husband

In Brazil ended one of the most sensational trials of recent times, according to The Guardian. The country's famous gospel singer, mother of 55 children and former congresswoman Flordelis dos Santos de Souza was sentenced to 50 years in prison by a court decision for organizing the murder of her husband.

As it turned out during the trial, the woman, known in Brazil simply as Flordelis, made at least six attempts to poison her husband Anderson do Carmo with cyanide, and after all of them failed, she organized his murder. In June 2019, do Carmo was shot several times while returning to the house the couple shared with their 55 children, adopted and biological, near Rio de Janeiro.

Flordelis, now 61, grew up in one of the favelas of Rio, was a singer, and she met her future husband, who was 16 years younger than her, when he was a teenager. Together, the couple founded the Evangelical Church of the Ministry of Flordelis from nine parishes, where Flordelis sang. Thanks to this, as well as a huge family of 55 children, relatives and adopted, the couple became national celebrities, and Flordelis appeared on TV as an example of an exemplary mother. In 2018, this helped her win a Congressional seat with more votes than any other Rio candidate and enter Bolsonaro's government.

According to investigators, soon after receiving parliamentary immunity, she began to plan the murder of her husband. The reason was that "the victim was in strict control of the family finances and dealt with conflicts harshly." Last year, Flordelis's own son Flavio was sentenced to 33 years in prison for pulling the trigger, while his adopted brother, Lucas Cesar, received a sentence for helping to purchase the murder weapon. Four other children of Flordelis were also sentenced to prison terms.

The singer herself became accused after she lost her parliamentary immunity in June last year. Her lawyers built their defense on the fact that she did not know anything about the impending crime, and the children wanted to protect her from sexual and physical abuse by her father. However, the judge dismissed these arguments, saying that she was the mastermind of the crime, staged to look like a failed robbery.