Brazilian authorities have found human remains at the site where one of the main suspects confessed to killing British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian activist Bruno Araújo Pereira in a remote part of the Amazon. The authorities believe that the two are dead, although the bodies have not yet been identified, something that will happen in Brasilia on Thursday morning.
The remains were found by the Federal Police after one of the main suspects in the disappearance confessed to having murdered the British journalist and indigenous activist Bruno Araújo Pereira, and to having led federal agents to the place where the bodies were buried.
Suspect confesses murder of Dom Phillips and Bruno Araújo disappeared in the Amazon
At a press conference of the Crisis Management Committee held in the state of Manaus, the regional superintendent of the Federal Police, Eduardo Fontes, indicated that during the excavations that are still being carried out, human remains were found.
“Last night we obtained a confession from the first of the two arrested suspects (…) who told us in detail how the crime was committed and where the bodies were buried,” he added. The area where the bodies were found, in Vale do Javarí, has “quite complicated” access, which has delayed the process, admitted Eduardo Fontes.
The alleged perpetrators of the murder are the fishermen brothers Amarildo da Costa Oliveira, known as “Pelado”, and Oseney da Costa de Oliveira, known as “Dos Santos”. The first was arrested last week and was considered the main suspect and the second was arrested on Tuesday.
During the press conference, the authorities say that there is still a third suspect in the crime. “The goal was to find them alive,” admitted the delegate of the Civil Police, Guilherme Torres, sending his condolences to the families of the journalist and the activist.
Dom Phillips, a journalist and contributor to The Guardian, and Bruno Araújo Pereira, an indigenous rights activist, have been missing since June 5 in Vale do Javari, a remote, jungle region in the Brazilian Amazon near the border with Peru and Colombia. , where he carried out an investigation on threats from invaders and criminals against the indigenous people.
The disappearance of the indigenous journalist and activist generated a great wave of concern among environmental movements and even in some international organizations, such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who asked the Brazilian government to intensify the search.
The Javarí Valley, the second largest indigenous reserve in Brazil, is known for being the scene of conflicts dominated by drug trafficking, timber theft and illegal mining.
Source: Observadora
