BRASILIA, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Brazil's top public prosecutor on Tuesday ordered five people indicted over sabotaging efforts to investigate the assassination of a Rio de Janeiro city councilwoman, and said federal investigators would take over the case.

In comments to reporters on her last day in office, Brazil's prosecutor general, Raquel Dodge, said she would charge two court officials, two police officers and a lawyer with obstructing investigations into the March 2018 slaying of Marielle Franco and her driver, Anderson Gomes.

A black, openly gay councilwoman, Franco frequently criticized Rio police for their often-deadly gang-busting operations in the city's slums, and excoriated Rio's so-called "militias," powerful organized crime groups often run by retired and off-duty police.

Franco's assassination sparked nationwide protests by Brazilians fed up with endemic violence and has inspired a new generation of black candidates in Rio de Janeiro.

In March, Rio state police, which have been in charge of the investigation, arrested two former police offers in connection with the murder, but questions still swirl around the slaying, and no clear motive has been established. The murders are widely assumed to have been ordered and orchestrated by a criminal network, and public patience is wearing thin.

Concerns about interference in the probe first came to light in November, when federal officials said some witnesses had fed Rio police false information to derail the investigation. Read more via Reuters