Dom Phillips visits a mine in Roraima State
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)The Government has been urged to work with international authorities on an independent investigation into the deaths of British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira in the Amazon.
Mr Phillips, 57, and Mr Pereira, 41, were last seen June 5 on their boat on the Itaquai river, near the entrance of the Javari Valley Indigenous Territory, which borders Peru and Colombia.
Phillips was shot in the chest and Pereira was shot in the head and the abdomen, police said in a statement.
Now Conservative former minister Tracey Crouch told the Commons: “It is thanks to journalists and environmentalists, such as Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, that record deforestation, mining and logging, predatory fishing and drug trafficking have been exposed.
“Dom and Bruno weren’t on some travel adventure in Brazil, as has been suggested, they were, like others who have been killed over the years, doing their job to report on the environmental damage taking place in Brazil that ultimately impacts on us all.
“So will the Government work with other international authorities for the case to be investigated in a swift, transparent and independent manner without any interference, not just to seek justice for families of Dom and Bruno, but to protect future journalists and environmentalists in their important work?”
Foreign Office minister Vicky Ford replied: “(Ms Crouch) is absolutely right that the case should be investigated.
“We are actually really grateful to the Brazilian authorities for their help and engagement to date; there’s been very, very close contact between, for example, the local police and national police with our embassy team on the ground.
“It’s really important that those who have committed this heinous crime are held to account.”
Brazilian police identified Phillips’ remains after the prime suspect confessed to killing the Guardian writer and his travelling companion.
Police said Jefferson da Silva Lima, known as Pelado da Dinha, turned himself at the police station in Atalaia do Norte in the Amazon and is the third suspect linked to the death of the pair.
Two other men are already in prison for alleged involvement in the killings: Amarildo Oliveira, known as Pelado, and his brother, Oseney de Oliveira, known as Dos Santos.
The speedboat used by Phillips to travel in the Amazon rainforest was found by police underwater weighed down with six sandbags.
