Alleged mastermind in murders of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira to stand trial

By Tiago Rogero in Rio de Janeiro • June 9, 2026 • World news

Brazilian judge rules there is enough evidence to try Ruben Dario da Silva Villar over killings of journalist and activist

The alleged mastermind and financial backer of the murders of the British journalist Dom Phillips and the Brazilian activist Bruno Pereira in the Amazon four years ago will stand trial before a jury, a federal judge in the state of Amazonas has ruled. Judge Cristina Lazzari Souza found that, based on the charges brought by federal prosecutors, there were “sufficient indications of authorship” to try Ruben Dario da Silva Villar, known by his nickname “Colômbia”. According to the federal police investigation, Silva Villar led a transnational criminal network that exploited the Javari Valley Indigenous territory, one of Brazil’s largest Indigenous reserves, and targeted Pereira in retaliation for his efforts to combat illegal fishing in the region. Pereira and Phillips were ambushed and killed on 5 June 2022 near the Amazonian town of Atalaia do Norte while returning from a reporting trip to the edge of the Javari valley. Pereira, a former official at the Indigenous affairs agency Funai, had been working with the Indigenous organisation Univaja (the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley) to help local activists defend their territory against illegal fishing and mining gangs. Phillips was accompanying Pereira while reporting for a book on protecting the Amazon – which has since been completed and published by a group of his journalist friends. According to police, he was killed to eliminate a witness after seeing the activist’s murder. Police concluded Pereira’s work had caused significant losses to the criminal organisation led by Silva Villar, which allegedly bought illegally caught fish for resale in Peru and Colombia. Silva Villar is in prison on separate charges relating to the use of false documents, and his defence team had sought to have the case dismissed, arguing there was insufficient evidence linking him to the killings. However, in a ruling published on Sunday, the judge concluded that there was “evidence of the materiality of the crimes and sufficient indications of authorship”, agreeing with the prosecution’s charges of double-qualified homicide and concealment of corpses, while emphasising that the final decision rested with the jury. Prosecutors found that, in the days before, during and immediately after the murders, there were hundreds of phone calls between Silva Villar and the local men accused of carrying out the killings. According to the investigations, the alleged mastermind supplied the ammunition used in the killings and paid the initial legal fees of one of the gunmen. In her ruling, the judge found that, “although there is no indication that the defendant [Silva Villar] directly carried out the killings, the evidence points to a possible role as mastermind or participant”. The lead prosecutor, Guilherme Diego Rodrigues Leal, welcomed the ruling, saying: “The rigorous punishment of those responsible is not only a response to the gravity of the crime, but also a crucial educational milestone in preventing the repetition of violence in the Amazon.” The murders took place during the environmentally catastrophic 2019-23 regime of the far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who was widely criticised for his sluggish response to Phillips and Pereira’s disappearances, calling their trip “an ill-advised adventure”. No date has been set for Silva Villar’s trial. Three local men accused of carrying out the murders and concealing the bodies are also in custody awaiting trial. Univaja published a statement saying it “receives the decision with respect”, adding that it “maintains its confidence in the competent institutions and hopes that the next steps will proceed with the seriousness, transparency and rigour required, in respect for the memory of Bruno and Dom, their families and society as a whole”.

Source: The Guardian