“Colombia” was arrested in late December for violating probation he was granted last October after posting 15,000 reais in bail and agreeing to be checked with an electronic ankle bracelet and unable to leave Manaus.
Authorities are ‘treating’ ‘Colombia’ as Brazilian, but the suspect’s identity and nationality are not entirely clear.
When he was linked by witnesses to the death of the journalist and the indigenista, “Colombia” appeared before authorities with a Peruvian document, but also carried another Brazilian document in the name of Rubens Villar Coelho.
“Colombia” was arrested for using two identities and authorities later identified him as Rubén Darío da Silva Villar, a Colombian national, but that ancestry has also not been fully verified.
Following the confession of two of the seven suspects in the double murder, the bodies of Phillips and Araújo were found lifeless near Atalaia do Norte, where they had traveled to gather information for the British journalist’s book.
One of those defendants, Edvaldo da Costa Oliveira, Amarildo’s brother and who only hid the corpses, was also considered the perpetrator, as he was in charge of receiving the weapons and taking them to the killers, Fontes reported Monday.
In addition to Colombia and the two authors of the material, another brother of Amarildo is also imprisoned: Oseney da Costa Oliveira, who is said to be in the boat that was supposed to transport the journalist and the indigenous man.
The hearings, scheduled for this week, were postponed to between March 20 and 22 due to “technical” issues alleged by the investigative team.
Phillips, a contributor to The Guardian, wrote about threats against indigenous people in Valle do Javari, one of the regions with the highest number of uncontacted ethnic groups in the world, where fishing and poaching go hand in hand with drug trafficking and piracy.
Source: El heraldo
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
