Category Archives: Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira

Five more people arrested in Brazil over murders of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira

Posted on by

A suspect already in custody likely leader of illegal fishing mafia based in Amazon region, police say

Brazilian police arrested another five people in connection with the murders of British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian Indigenous activist Bruno Pereira on Saturday, and said one of the suspects already in custody was likely the leader of an illegal fishing mafia based in the Amazon region.

Although they gave few details, police said three of those detained in operations near Brazil’s borders with Peru and Colombia were wanted for helping bury the bodies of Phillips and Pereira.

Continue reading...

Brazil ‘failing to fully investigate’ Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira murders

Posted on by

Rights groups accuse Brazilian government of not employing sufficient resources to examine case

Leading human rights organisations have criticised the Brazilian government for what they say is a failure to properly investigate the murders of the Indigenous activist Bruno Pereira and the British journalist Dom Phillips.

The two men were shot dead in June but eight organisations said that from the moment they disappeared, to the discovery of their bodies, to the indictment of three men for their murders, Brazilian authorities have “not employed sufficient resources to fully comprehend all the elements in the case and the responsibility of all those involved”.

Continue reading...

Three charged in Brazil with murder of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira

Posted on by

Prosecutors say two men confessed to killing British journalist and Indigenous expert while third participated

Public prosecutors have charged three individuals with the murder in June of the British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira in the remote western reaches of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest.

Phillips – a regular contributor to the Guardian – and Pereira had met Indigenous people near the entrance of the Javari Valley Indigenous Territory, which borders Peru and Colombia, and were travelling along the Itaquai River back to the city of Atalaia do Norte when they were attacked.

Continue reading...

Man linked to killing of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira arrested over fake ID

Posted on by

Rubens Villar Coelho ‘produced a fake Brazilian ID’ to investigating officer and had other aliases in Peru and Colombia

Police have arrested a man linked to the killing of British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian indigenous advocate Bruno Pereira but officials in the Amazonian city of Manaus warned his detention has not yet produced any evidence he is implicated in the 5 June murders.

Media in the area around Brazil’s border with Peru and Colombia where the couple went missing named Rubens Villar Coelho as a possible suspect in the case that brought global attention to the remote Amazonian region last month.

Continue reading...

Murdered British journalist Dom Phillips laid to rest in Brazil

Posted on by

My brother was killed because he tried to tell the world what was happening to the rainforest, says Sian Phillips

The British journalist Dom Phillips has been laid to rest in Brazil, exactly three weeks after he was gunned down while journeying through the Amazon with the Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira.

Pereira and Phillips, a longtime Guardian contributor, disappeared while travelling on the Itaquaí River on Sunday 5 June.

Continue reading...

‘Dom Phillips was natural storyteller – for us, he was always Uncle Dom’

Posted on by

Nieces of journalist killed in the Amazon pay tribute to their uncle, who sent frequent and funny emails about life in Brazil

Dom Phillips was a storyteller. Through his career as a journalist, he told the stories of those who were unable to speak out and whose views were overlooked. His second book, How to Save the Amazon, aimed to do exactly this – to speak the story of the Amazon and the Indigenous people within it, and provide solutions to preserve their culture in conjunction with current Brazilian society.

For us, however, he was always Uncle Dom. He has been present in our lives since we were born and was very much involved with our upbringing when we were small children. He remained a positive influence, even when he moved to Brazil in 2007.

Continue reading...

Bruno Pereira buried in his home state after ceremony led by Indigenous tribes

Posted on by

Funeral held in Pernambuco of Indigenous expert who was killed in Amazon region with journalist Dom Phillips

The murdered Indigenous advocate Bruno Pereira has been buried in his home state of Pernambuco in Brazil after a small ceremony attended by family members and local tribes.

Dozens of Indigenous people from the Xukuru tribe paraded around his coffin chanting farewell rituals to the beat of their percussion instruments on Friday.

Continue reading...

Calls for justice amid fears inquiry into killings of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira stalling

Posted on by

Three men are in custody and more arrests are planned, but the suspected murder weapon has not been found

Scores of protesters have congregated outside the offices of Brazil’s Indigenous protection agency Funai in the riverside town of Atalaia do Norte, renewing calls for justice over the murders of journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous advocate Bruno Pereira.

Demonstrators – mostly Indigenous people from the Javari Valley – held orange and yellow banners, which read: “Protection for our Amazon forest”, “Amazon resist! Who ordered the killing?” and “Out Bolsonaro!”, amid growing fears that the criminal investigation into the murders was slowing.

Continue reading...

Dom Phillips was ‘collateral damage’ in drunken ambush, claims Brazil vice-president

Posted on by

Hamilton Mourão’s claim sparked anger from Indigenous communities who believe organised crime was involved

Brazil’s vice-president has claimed that British journalist Dom Phillips was “collateral damage” in an attack on his travelling partner, the Indigenous activist Bruno Pereira, as grisly details emerged about the killing of the two men in early June.

One of the three men in custody for the killings said he and his accomplices tried to burn the bodies after shooting them dead at the edge of a river in western Brazil.

Continue reading...

Brazil police identify five more people linked to killings of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira

Posted on by

Officers have already arrested three people, one of whom confessed to killing British journalist and indigenous advocate

Police investigating the murder of the British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous advocate Bruno Pereira have identified five more people connected with the killings, bringing to eight the number of suspects in a crime that has shocked Brazil.

Police had already arrested two brothers, one of whom confessed to the crime, and a third man handed himself in to authorities on Saturday.

Continue reading...

Brazil police arrest third suspect in killings of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira

Posted on by

Jefferson da Silva Lima turned himself in to Amazon police as autopsy finds journalist and indigenous expert were shot

Brazil’s federal police said Saturday that a third suspect in the deaths of British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira has been arrested. The pair, whose remains were found after they went missing almost two weeks ago, were shot to death, according to an autopsy.

Phillips was shot in the chest and Pereira was shot in the head and the abdomen, police said in a statement. It said the autopsy indicated the use of a “firearm with typical hunting ammunition.”

Continue reading...

Police say remains found in Brazilian Amazon belong to Dom Phillips

Posted on by

Officials give confirmation after forensic tests, as police suggest killings were not carried out upon orders from organised crime

Forensic tests carried out on human remains found in the Brazilian Amazon have confirmed that they belonged to Dom Phillips, the British journalist who went missing with the Indigenous advocate Bruno Pereira.

Brazil’s federal police said late on Friday that it could “confirm that the remains of Dom Phillips are part of the [human] material” found on Wednesday after an 11-day search along the banks of the Itaquaí river. They had been buried in a densely forested area two hours from the nearest town.

Continue reading...

In his own words: Dom Phillips’ reporting on Brazil and the Amazon

Posted on by

Dom Phillips, whose death in the Amazon has shocked many, was a frequent contributor to the Guardian. Here are some of his outstanding pieces of journalism

Over some of the most tumultuous years in Brazil, Dom Phillips bore witness to the politics of his adopted home and to the fate of the Amazon rainforest. Travelling into the forest is a slow and laborious process, yet Phillips returned again and again.

Phillips wrote regularly for the Guardian and other publications. Here, we have collected some of his most outstanding pieces of journalism.

For more than a decade after the reserve was set up in 1998, its 16 uncontacted Indigenous tribes were among the best protected in Brazil. Yet today it is invaded on multiple fronts, leaving its isolated groups – who hunt with bows and arrows or blow-pipes, and avoid contact with modern society – at risk. Contact with outsiders can be deadly for these groups, who lack immunity to diseases like flu.

“The vulnerability of these peoples is growing,” Beto Marubo, a Javari Indigenous leader, told the United Nations permanent forum on indigenous issues in New York in April. “There is no effective protection.”

Continue reading...

Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira: Brazil police find two bodies in search for missing men

Posted on by

Police chief says one of the men arrested in connection with the pair’s disappearance had confessed to killing them

Police in the Brazilian Amazon have found the bodies of two men in the area close to where British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous activist Bruno Pereira went missing 10 days ago.

At a press briefing late on Wednesday, regional police chief Eduardo Fontes said one of the two men arrested in connection with the pair’s disappearance had confessed to killing them.

Continue reading...

‘Deep concern’ over fate of Dom Phillips in Brazil, says Boris Johnson

Posted on by

Prime minister says UK government will provide any support needed after journalist’s disappearance in Amazon

Boris Johnson has said the UK government is “deeply concerned” about the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the British journalist Dom Phillips, after Theresa May called on the prime minister to make the case “a diplomatic priority”.

May raised Phillips’s case during prime minister’s questions, citing correspondence with Phillips’ niece Dominique Davis, one of her constituents. Johnson said the UK had offered to provide support to Brazilian search teams looking for Phillips and his travelling partner, Bruno Pereira, an Indigenous expert.

Continue reading...

Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira: police in Brazil arrest second man for ‘alleged murder’

Posted on by

Suspect is brother of first person held by police over disappearance of the British journalist and indigenous activist

Police in Brazil say they have arrested a second man in connection with “the alleged murder” of the British journalist Dom Phillips and the Brazilian Indigenous defender Bruno Pereira.

Oseney da Costa de Oliveira, 41, was arrested on Tuesday and is being held in Atalaia do Norte, the isolated river town Phillips and Pereira were trying to reach when they vanished on Sunday 5 June.

Continue reading...

Brazil Indigenous agency staff strike over Bruno Pereira disappearance

Posted on by

Employees walk off the job amid anger over statements criticising the former Funai employee who went missing with Dom Phillips

Employees with Brazil’s national Indigenous foundation (Funai) have launched a one-day strike, amid anger over what they say is the dismantling of a key government agency and official statements criticising Bruno Pereira, the former Funai employee who went missing along with the British journalist Dom Phillips last week.

Funai staff and related civil service employees walked off the job at 9am on Tuesday in Brasília, Florianópolis and Dourados, and others are voting on whether to launch a wider strike next week, officials with the unions said.

Continue reading...

Brazil envoy apologises to Dom Phillips’ family for saying bodies had been found

Posted on by

Ambassador ‘deeply sorry’ for ‘information that did not prove correct’ as search continues for missing journalist and colleague

The Brazilian ambassador to the UK has apologised to the family of Dom Phillips for incorrectly telling them his body had been found in the Amazon along with that of his missing travelling partner Bruno Pereira.

On Monday morning an embassy official called Phillips’s brother-in-law and sister to inform them that the bodies of the British journalist and Brazilian Indigenous expert had been found tied to a tree, one week after the pair vanished on the River Itaquaí.

Continue reading...

Bolsonaro says ‘something wicked’ done to Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira

Posted on by

Brazil president comments on journalist and Indigenous expert’s fate amid unconfirmed claims bodies have been found in Amazon

The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has said he believes “something wicked” was done to the missing British journalist Dom Phillips and the Brazilian Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, amid unconfirmed claims their bodies had been found in the Amazon.

British relatives of Phillips said they had been contacted by the Brazilian embassy in London on Monday morning and informed that two unidentified bodies had been found during the search operation.

Continue reading...