Brazil: Defendant in Bruno and Dom case granted house arrest
Saturday, September 21, 2024 – 09:23 UTC
Oseney da Costa de Oliveira will have to wear a tracking bracelet while staying with a relative in Manaus
Fisherman Oseney da Costa de Oliveira, one of three people arrested in connection with the 2022 murder of British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous activist Bruno Pereira, was granted house arrest on Friday by rapporteur Marcos Augusto de Sousa, of the Regional Court of the First Federal Region of Brasilia (TRF1), Agencia Brasil reported.
The measure had been requested by the legal team assisting the suspect, citing health problems such as the need for a colonoscopy to treat heavy bleeding in the rectal area. Da Costa de Oliveira, whose son Amarildo has been prosecuted for the double homicide in the Vale do Javari Indigenous Land in Amazonas, will have to wear a tracking ankle bracelet while staying with a relative in Manaus.
Last Tuesday, the TRF1 agreed with De Sousa and rejected the prosecution’s accusation against him, arguing that there was no evidence placing him at the scene of the crime; he was simply with his son Amarildo in a canoe. In the meantime, Amarildo and Jefferson da Silva Lima will remain in prison to be tried in Tabatinga.
Bruno and Dom were killed on June 5, 2022, while traveling by boat through the Vale do Javari in the Amazon, a region that is home to the Vale do Javari Indigenous Land, the second largest in the country, with more than 8.5 million hectares.
They were last seen leaving the community of São Rafael towards the city of Atalaia do Norte (AM), where they were to meet with local community leaders. Their bodies were recovered ten days later, buried in an area of dense scrub, about 3 kilometers from the Itacoaí River gorge.
A contributor to the British newspaper The Guardian, Phillips was dedicated to covering environmental journalism and was working on a book about the Amazon.
Pereira had held a position at the National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples (Funai) before leaving the organization to work at the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javarí Valley (Univaja). For his work in defense of indigenous communities and preservation of the environment, he received several death threats.
