A federal judge in Brazil has ruled that the alleged murderers of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira will face trial by jury.
Three fishermen stand accused of murdering the British journalist and the Brazilian Indigenous expert, who were ambushed near the entrance of the Javari valley in the western Amazon in June 2022.
Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, nicknamed Pelado; his brother Oseney da Costa de Oliveira, or Dos Santos; and Jefferson da Silva Lima, known as Pelado da Dinha, will face a murder trial by jury, the judge, Wendelson Pereira Pessoa, has ruled.
A date has not yet been set for the trial.
The three men were charged in July 2022. Prosecutors argue that Pereira was targeted for helping Indigenous activists defend their lands from illegal fishing and mining gangs. The prosecutors have said that Phillips, a longtime foreign correspondent and Guardian contributor, was killed “only because of being with Bruno, in order to ensure impunity for the prior crime”.
Pessoa cited this as an aggravating factor in his ruling on Monday, according to the newspaper Folha de S Paulo. He determined that the suspects – who are being held in high-security prisons – should remain behind bars until the trial, deeming that they represented a flight risk and a threat to public safety.
“The crime had international repercussions. To release the accused when the proceedings have proven indications that two homicides were committed, followed by the concealment of the bodies, would cause a popular uproar,” the judge reportedly said.
The defendants’ lawyers said on Tuesday they would appeal against the decision, local media reported.
Several other suspects are under investigation for their alleged involvement. In June, federal police charged Ruben Dario da Silva Villar with being the mastermind behind the murders. Silva Villar is accused of leading a transnational illegal fishing network operating on the tri-border region between Brazil, Colombia, and Peru.
