The 4th Panel of the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region partially accepted, this Tuesday (17), an appeal presented by the three accused of the murder of indigenous activist Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips, which occurred in 2022, in the Vale do Javari Indigenous Land, in Amazonas.
According to the decision, Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira and Jefferson da Silva Lima will be tried by a popular jury. Already Oseney da Costa de Oliveira will not be subjected to this type of judgment . The defendants, who are in prison, are charged with the crimes of homicide and concealment of a corpse.
Bruno and Dom were murdered on June 5, 2022, after falling, according to the Federal Police, into an ambush while sailing by boat through the Javari Valley region, the second largest indigenous land in Brazil, with more than 8.5 million hectares.
The last time they were seen was during the journey between the São Rafael community and the city of Atalaia do Norte (AM), where they were supposed to have a meeting with indigenous and riverside leaders. The bodies were found ten days later, buried in an area of dense forest, about three kilometers from the Itacoaí River.
Dom Phillips, a contributor to the British newspaper The Guardian, covered environmental issues and conflicts related to indigenous lands, in addition to working on a book about the Amazon at the time.
Bruno Pereira had previously been coordinator of the Isolated and Recently Contacted Indians area of the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (FUNAI), but stepped down from the position to collaborate with the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley (UNIVAJA). His work in defense of indigenous peoples and the environment made him the target of death threats.
Defense requested nullification of confessions
In the process, the three defendants requested “the nullity of the decision to indict due to the use of the confession given by the defendants at the police station and the lack of justification, analysis and examination of the defense arguments”.
The defense also requested that the process be nullified upon receipt of the complaint due to the restriction of the defense, since they would not have had access to evidence released by the Court.
“After the defendants had already been questioned, the Public Prosecutor’s Office presented these documents, other police investigations that existed, which no one knew about, presented documents that prove Amarildo’s torture, which the defense did not have access to,” said lawyer Lucas Sá, who represents Amarildo and Oseney.
This content was originally published in Justice maintains Jury Court for two accused of killing Bruno and Dom on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
