Federal Police concludes investigation into killings of Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, journalist Dom Phillips

On Friday, November 1, Brazil's federal police concluded their investigation into the double homicide of indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips, killed on June 5, 2022, near the Vale do Javari Indigenous Land in Atalaia do Norte, Amazonas.

The investigation confirmed that the murders were prompted by Pereira’s monitoring activities in the region. He was committed to environmental preservation and the defense of Indigenous rights.

INVESTIGATION — During the two-year investigation, the federal police indicted nine individuals. The final report identifies the mastermind behind the double homicide, who supplied ammunition for the crime, funded the criminal organization’s activities, and coordinated efforts to hide the victims’ bodies. The others indicted were involved in carrying out the murders and concealing the remains.

The investigation also unveiled organized criminal activity behind predatory fishing and hunting in the Atalaia do Norte region. The criminal group caused social and environmental impacts and threatened environment protection workers and Indigenous populations. According to the Federal Police, the criminal group’s coordinator, Ruben Dario da Silva Villar, a.k.a. “Colombia”, was identified in the Federal Police’s final report and is currently imprisoned.

COMMITMENT — The Federal Police continues to monitor the threats posed to the population of the Vale do Javari region and there are ongoing investigations regarding threats made to local Indigenous persons.

THE CASE — Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips were shot to death on June 5, 2022. They had met a few days earlier in Atalaia do Norte, at the Brazilian border with Peru and Colombia. The experienced Indigenist and the British journalist intended to travel across the region until close to the Vale do Javari Indigenous Land, the second-largest area of the Union designated for exclusive Indigenous use and is home to the largest concentration of uncontacted peoples in the world. Phillips planned to interview Indigenous and riverside community leaders to write a nonfiction narrative provisionally titled How To Save the Amazon. Pereira had initiated a license from the National Indigenous Peoples Foundation (Fundação Nacional dos Povos Indígenas / FUNAI) in February 2020. At the time, he worked as a consultant for the Vale do Javari Indigenous Peoples’ Union (União dos Povos Indígenas do Vale do Javari /UNIVAJA) and had meetings scheduled with community leaders of the area around the Indigenous Land.

They were both last seen on the morning of June 5, 2022. Their bodies were only located on June 15, when police officers had already detained at least five suspects for engaging in their disappearance.