In connection with the killings of Brazilian indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips, police in Brazil have charged two additional men.
When Phillips and Pereira were returning by boat from a reporting trip in the Amazon, they were shot and killed one year ago.
Rubén Villar, one of the suspects, has been charged by police with planning the murder.
When he was first detained last year, the man—also known as Colombia—declared that he had no connection to the murder.
Rueben Villar and Jânio Freitas de Souza were accused of murdering Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips and concealing their bodies, according to a report from Brazilian broadcaster TV Globo on Sunday.
The veteran journalist Dom Phillips, 57, was working on a book about conservation efforts in the Amazon region with assistance from Bruno Pereira, 41, who had criticized illegal fishing in the area.
Rubén Villar, a resident of Colombia, allegedly operated an illegal fishing operation in the Javari Valley, a remote region close to Brazil's borders with Peru and Colombia, according to a report by TV Globo's Fantástico program.
Jânio Freitas de Souza, the additional suspect indicted last week, is thought to have been a member of Rubén Villar's criminal enterprise. The two men are already detained.
For allegedly providing false evidence to the police, Rubén Villar was first detained in July 2022.
Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, an illegal fisherman who, according to police, later confessed to killing Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips, shared a cell with him.
Police have audio recordings from inside the cell, according to police records that Fantástico reporters have access to.
According to police, Rubén Villar is heard cautioning his cellmate not to reveal to officers that he, Rubén Villar, was the one who supplied the ammunition used to kill the two men in the recordings. .
According to the prosecution, phone conversations between Rubén Villar and Jânio Freitas de Souza on the day of the murder suggest that the crime was planned out in advance.
The last image of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips shows them conversing with Jânio Freitas de Souza in the riverside community of So Rafael.
In these riverside communities, Pereira was well-known for trying to persuade locals to stop illegal hunting and fishing, and police believe Rubén Villar's illegal fishing ring was keeping an eye on him.
Researchers believe that on June 5, 2022, Jânio Freitas de Souza called Rubén Villar to let him know that Pereira and Phillip were leaving from So Rafael by boat.
Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira and Jefferson da Silva Lima, who police claim have both admitted killing the two men, are believed to have ambushed the men later that day.
Jefferson da Silva Lima, Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, and Oseney da Costa de Oliveira, who denies any involvement in the crime, are all awaiting trial.
Ten days following Phillips and Pereira's disappearance, their remains were discovered. They had been shot to death, and their dismembered bodies had been buried in the woods.
Outrage over the crime spread throughout Brazil and abroad, bringing attention to the criminal activity and lawlessness in outlying regions like the Javari Valley.
On Monday, events are being held to commemorate the first year since their disappearance.
