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Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira: Three charged with Brazil murder

Getty Images Bruno Pereira funeral, 24 Jun 22Getty Images
The indigenous Xucuru tribe mourned Pereira at his funeral

A Brazilian court has charged three men with the murder last month of British journalist Dom Phillips and a local indigenous expert, Bruno Pereira.

The crime exposed the lawlessness that prevails in Brazil's Amazon region.

Two of the suspects helped police locate the bodies of Phillips and Pereira, who had gone missing in the Javari Valley, a remote area near the border with Peru.

The suspects were fishing illegally there, prosecutors say.

They allegedly decided to kill the men when Pereira asked Phillips to take a picture of their boat.

Pereira and Phillips were shot dead and their bodies burned and buried.

The three were detained about two weeks after the two men went missing, and have been named as Amarildo Oliveira, his brother Oseney Oliveira, and Jefferson Lima.

AFP Dom PhillipsAFP
Dom Phillips was writing a book on the Amazon

Pereira had been introducing the journalist to people he could interview for a book about the Amazon.

They were investigating illegal fishing, logging and drug trafficking in indigenous reserves.

Critics place much of the blame for growing lawlessness in the Amazon on President Jair Bolsonaro's government, which has cut resources from indigenous and environmental agencies.

The prosecutors' statement said Amarildo and Jefferson had confessed to the crime.

Dom Phillips 'was uncovering inconvenient truths' - WATCH:

Sian Phillips and Paul Sherwood, sister and brother-in-law of Dom Phillips, spoke to Radio 4's Today