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The three men were already in custody and will remain in prison, charged with the crimes of a double homicide and corpse concealment.
On Friday, the Brazilian Public Prosecutor's Office denounced to the courts three of the suspects already arrested for the murder last June of the indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and the British journalist Dom Phillips in the Amazon.
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The charges were filed against Amarildo da Costa Oliveira, Oseney da Costa de Oliveira and Jefferson da Silva Lima accused of double homicide and concealment of corpse, according to a statement by the Prosecutor's Office.
Amarildo and Jefferson confessed to the crime before the authorities, while the implication of Oseney da Costa de Oliveira was proven from the testimony of witnesses, the Public Prosecutor's Office said.
According to the investigation, "what motivated the murders was the fact that Pereira had asked Phillips to photograph the suspect's boat." Prosecutors considered this motivation "frivolous," which, according to Brazilian law, can result in harsher sentences.
A Brazilian court has charged three men with the murder last month of British journalist Dom Phillips and a local indigenous expert, Bruno Pereira.
— Jimmy Ramport (@JimmyRamport) July 22, 2022
The crime exposed the lawlessness that prevails in Brazil's Amazon region.
Prosecutors said Pereira was shot three times, with no chance of defense, while Phillips, who was in the region doing research for a book, was killed to cover up the earlier murder.
Local media have previously said that those accused of the crime profit from fishing and other illegal activities in the indigenous communities' reservation areas.
The double murder shook Brazil on June 5 in a remote Brazilian Amazon area bordering Colombia and Peru. International organizations, as well as environmental and human rights associations, condemned the crime.
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