Brazilian Prosecutor’s Office appeals to bring defendant in Bruno and Dom’s murders to trial
02 de February de 2025
By Jadson Lima – From Cenarium
MANAUS (AM) – The Brazilian Federal Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) has appealed to the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) to ensure that one of the three individuals accused of participating in the murders of British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira is brought to a jury trial. The request to reconsider the decision of the First Regional Federal Court (TRF1), which benefited Oseney da Costa de Oliveira, was submitted on Wednesday, the 29th.
According to the MPF’s argument, witnesses heard during the process placed the fisherman at the crime scene, which occurred in June 2022 in the Javari Valley, Amazonas. Investigations pointed out that Oseney met his brother, Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, on the day and time of the murders. The institution also mentions that the defendant Jefferson da Silva Lima confessed that Amarildo summoned his brother and other relatives to go after Bruno Pereira.
In September of last year, the First Regional Federal Court (TRF1), based in Brasília, accepted an appeal from the defense and ruled that there was no evidence of Oseney’s participation in the homicides. On the day of the crime, he gave his brother Amarildo, who is also a defendant in the case, a ride in a canoe.
For the MPF, Oseney participated in the crime and must be tried by a jury, just like the defendants Amarildo and Jefferson, who are charged with double qualified homicide and concealment of a corpse. The institution argues, through the First Regional Prosecutor’s Office (PRR1), that the TRF1’s decision violated Articles 413 and 414 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CPP), as there is evidence justifying Oseney’s trial by jury.
In the special appeal, the MPF does not request a new examination of evidence but asks the STJ to analyze the contradiction in the TRF1’s decision regarding the interpretation of the mentioned legal provision, as well as to reassess the legal value of the evidence already analyzed in the process. The STJ’s understanding allows this type of review when there is an error in the interpretation of the law, without this implying a reexamination of the case’s evidence.
Jury Trial
The Jury Court is a body of the Judiciary that tries intentional crimes against life and their related crimes. In general, the jury process has two stages: a guilt formation phase before a federal judge and, in the second, the trial of the case by the sentencing council, composed of citizens.
In this specific case, a pronouncement decision was issued regarding Amarildo and Jefferson, marking the end of the first phase. However, the defendants will only be taken to a jury trial after the final ruling, that is, after all appeals against the pronouncement decision are exhausted.
Amarildo and Jefferson will be tried for double qualified homicide and for concealing the victims’ bodies. Both remain in custody. As for Oseney, he awaits the final judgment of the case under house arrest with electronic monitoring.
Revisiting the Case
On June 5, 2022, Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips were murdered during a trip through the Javari Valley Indigenous Land, in Amazonas. At the time, Dom was working on a book about the preservation of the Amazon rainforest and was accompanied by Bruno, who had scheduled meetings and interviews with local leaders.
According to the indictment presented by the MPF in the case, fully accepted by the court in July 2022, Amarildo and Jefferson confessed and provided details about the crime in their initial statements to the police and the Judiciary, which was confirmed by witnesses and the evidence in the case files.
According to the MPF, there was already a record of disagreements between Bruno and Amarildo over illegal fishing in Indigenous territory. What would have motivated the murders was the fact that Bruno asked Dom to photograph the suspects’ boat. As the investigations progressed, it was also discovered that Bruno’s actions in the region were seen as an obstacle to the criminal activity of illegal hunting and fishing carried out by Amarildo, whose environmental crimes were committed inside the Javari Valley.
Bruno was killed with three gunshots, one of them in the back, without any chance of defense. Dom was murdered simply for being with Bruno, in order to ensure impunity for the previous crime.