Accused of killing Bruno and Dom change version and claim self-defense

Those accused of the murder of British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian indigenist Bruno Pereira reversed the confession they had made to the police and began to claim self-defense. They were heard in a hearing at the Federal Court this Monday (8) and stated that Bruno would have shot first. In an interview with Agência Brasil, Dom’s family lawyer, Rafael Fagundes, said that, in the statement they gave to the police, the accused had confessed that they shot first. The hearing took place in Tabatinga (AM), by videoconference, since the accused Amarildo da Costa Oliveira, Oseney Costa de Oliveira and Jeferson da Silva Lima are imprisoned in federal prisons. The first is in Catanduvas, Paraná, and the other two in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul. “This movement is natural. It is their right to defend themselves, even if the version they have presented is not sustainable, neither from a logical point of view, nor from the point of view of the evidence in the file”, highlighted the lawyer. This was the first testimony of the accused to Justice. They were the last to be heard in the process. Witness testimonies had already been taken at previous hearings. According to the lawyer, “the only dissonant version [de que eles são culpados] it is the one given by the relatives of the accused, who did not even promise to tell the truth”. Fagundes informed that now the parties involved in the process will request their latest evidence, and may require further steps, such as the attachment of documents, the issuance of official letters, the request for information. Then the judge will decide whether the accused will go to a popular jury. However, there is no deadline for this decision. History The Guardian correspondent and the indigenist were executed in June 2022. They worked together to denounce socio-environmental crimes in the Vale do Javari region, where there is the highest concentration of isolated and recently contacted peoples in the world. Dom Phillips even intended to publish a book on the issues that affect the territory and was investigating the information at the time. In the Vale do Javari Indigenous Land, there are 64 villages of 26 peoples and around 6,300 people. The police authorities placed under suspicion at least eight people, for their possible participation in the homicides and in the concealment of the corpses. At the end of October 2022, the alleged mastermind of the murder, Rubens Villar Pereira, was released on bail after posting bail of R$15,000.

Agência Brasil