After more than three years of waiting for a decision, military police officer Henrique Velozo has now been acquitted in the Leandro Lo murder trial according to an initial report from G1. The news will undoubtedly come as a shock to the BJJ world, including many close friends of Lo; who was shot and killed in a Brazilian nightclub on the night of August 7th, 2022. Velozo surrendered to the Internal Affairs Department shortly afterward and has since been held in the Romao Gomes military prison. Despite quickly apprehending the suspect; everything slowed to a crawl from that point onward and the trial has suffered numerous setbacks and delays.
It looked as though the trial might come to a conclusion earlier this year but it was postponed one final time when the first witness began to give testimony. It finally began on November 12th, 2025 and the trial went until 10pm that day. Over the course of that day and the two that followed, a total of 9 witnesses were heard across both the prosecution and the defense. This included Velozo himself, who gave his testimony on the final day of November 14th. The argument made was that Velozo acted legitimately in self-defense and at least 4 of the 7 jurors who were present found it to be compelling.
It might have taken over 3 years to reach that point, but the trial came to a conclusion incredibly quickly. The jury rendered their verdict on November 14th and Velozo was acquitted, meaning that he is now free. This is in stark contrast to what the prosecution were aiming for, which was a guilty verdict and a minimum of 20 years imprisonment. Lo’s mother, Fatima, spoke to G1 and said that she is planning to appeal the decision ‘because there was no justice.’ She will likely not be alone in pushing for an appeal in the Leandro Lo murder trial either, as Velozo being acquitted will clearly be an unpopular decision in the BJJ world.
