Undoubtedly: the human remains discovered in the Amazon at the indication of a suspect were actually British journalist Dom Phillips, who was killed along with Brazilian expert Bruno Pereira on an expedition to the Amazon.
This confirmation is possible thanks to an odontological examination samples tested in a laboratory in Brasilia, Brazilian federal police said in a statement on Friday.
The whole identification work continues to better understand the cause of death, dynamics of crime and hiding corpses.he added.
Two suspects have been arrested so far, but police say they have already been arrested clues showing that another person may have participated in the crime.
Earlier in the day, police indicated that elements they could use at this stage of the investigation led to the belief that the killers acted alone, there was no sponsor, no criminal organization behind the killings.
The remains of Dom Phillips were found Wednesday at the location indicated by one of the two arrested suspects, fisherman Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira said. Peladoto confess the day before the corpses were buried.
The Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley (Univaja), whose members actively participated in the search, refuted the police version on Friday.
Not just two killers, but an organized group that planned the crime down to the smallest detail.Univaja said in a statement.
Dom Phillips, 57, has long contributed to the newspaper The keeperand Bruno Pereira, 41, a recognized indigenous expert, are on Amazon as part of an environmental protection book.
Dangerous zone, lots of traffic
They were last seen on June 5, when they boarded a boat heading to Atalaia do Norte (northwest), in the Javari Valley, an area known to be dangerous where mass drug trafficking, fishing or illegal gold mining take place.
Univaja says they sent a report to the authorities which explained that Pelado is involved in illegal fishing activities.
This 41-year-old fisherman has become accused as the perpetrator of the 2018 and 2019 shooting attacks on a Funai basethe Brazilian government agency for indigenous affairs, in the same town of Atalaia do Norte.
Univaja evokes a powerful criminal organization that tried at all costs to cover its tracks during the investigation in the double murder, which recalls that Bruno Pereira, who worked for a long time in Funai, became the subject of death threats.
According to some experts, the illegal fishing of endangered species in the Javari Valley, in most cases, is controlled by drug traffickers who use the sale of fish to launder money into drugs.
” We request the continuation and deepening of the investigations. We ask that the federal police consider the information we send them in our reports, otherwise we will not be able to live peacefully in our territory. “
Weak state influence
The Javari Valley is the second largest indigenous reserve in Brazil, where 26 indigenous people live, 19 of them total detached.
This hard-to-reach region is located in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, on the triple border between Brazil, Peru and Colombia, where the state has very little influence.
On the spot, several members of the security forces left the area after the remains of the victims were found.
We sent a team to accompany the patrol, to the search [d’indices] proceed. A large number of police and firefighters have leftregretted AFP Paulo Marubo, coordinator of Univaja.
The double assassinations of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira have sparked outrage around the world, with fierce criticism of far -right President Jair Bolsonaro accused of promoting deforestation and encouraging resource exploitation in the Amazon since he came to power in January 2019.
The United States on Friday called for responsibility for the killings of the two men, killed for supporting rainforest conservation and indigenous peoples.
The UN denounced the day before a brutal act at awful.
France Media Agency
Source: Radio-Canada
