In Brazil, two former agency officials were indicted for the murder of an independent British journalist.

The police said that the two former officials failed in their duty to act upon information prior to the murders Dom Phillips, and native expert Bruno Pereira.

The two former officials have not been named by the officers, but Agencia Brasil of state news agency said that they are Funai’s former vice-president Alcir Amaral and former president Marcelo Teixeira.

According to federal police, both men were aware that the lives of employees at Funai, such as Pereira, were in danger at the Funai Meeting in 2019. They also had other documentation to support this. The police claim they failed to take “necessary steps” to protect the victims, which culminated in a double homicide.

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Mr Phillips, Mr Pereira and their boat were last seen in the Javari Valley at the Itaquai River on 5th June 2022. They disappeared shortly thereafter.

This region lies on the border between Peru and Brazil.

The world’s largest native communities live here, as do the cocaine-smuggling groups, illegal hunting and fishing gangs.

Their bodies were discovered 10 days after their disappearance. An autopsy revealed that they had been killed with a “firearm” and “typical hunting ammunition.”

The police said that Ruben Dario Da Silva Villar, the gang leader, planned these murders because Pereira was carrying them out.

Inspections of illegal fishing operations caused Villar’s criminal group to suffer losses.

Villar, along with three other people, has been charged with double murder and concealing corpses.

Mr Phillips had previously written for The Washington Post, The Guardian and The Times.

He was working on a book about the trip, with Mr Pereira. Mr Pereira is a former director of the federal agency for indigenous affairs Funai.

Sky News:

Sandbags found in the boat used by a British journalist murdered and an indigenous expert

Identification of five suspects in connection with the death of a British journalist and his friend who were buried in the Amazon

“Quest for Justice”

His wife told the family that they could “say goodbye to love” after Mr Phillips was found dead.

She continued: “Today we begin our search for justice.” I hope the investigations will exhaust all possible options and provide definitive answers to all relevant details in a timely manner.

Local residents and activists protested across the country in the past year, condemning the killings of indigenous peoples and criticising government policies.