Brazilian suspect of British journalist's murder granted house arrest
Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira
A judge in Brazil has allowed one of the jailed suspects in murder of a British journalist to secure bail and remain in house arrest. The suspect has been in police custody since July.
Ruben da Silva Villar, also known as "Colombia," was released last Friday, according to local press reports, after a ruling made three days earlier.
Villar is a suspect in murders of Dom Phillips, the British journalist and Brazilian Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira.
Federal Judge Fabiano Verli said that Villar could pay USD 2800 in Brazilian currency and await trial at an address in Manaus, capital of the state of Amazonas. Villar's movements will be monitored by means of an electronic device on his ankle.
Phillips, 57, and Pereira, 41, were shot dead on June 5 in the Javari Valley, a jungle region near the Brazilian border with Peru and Colombia which is plagued by illegal fishing, logging, mining and drug trafficking.
Pereira had been working to stop illegal fishing in the Javari Valley indigenous reserve. The reserve has largest concentration of uncontacted tribed on Earth.
Phillips, a freelance journalist for The Guardian, The New York Times and other newspapers, was traveling with him to write a book called "How to Save the Amazon."
Native leaders cooperating with Pereira accused Villar of ordering the expert's death for organising Indigenous patrols that seized lucrative hauls of illegally caught fish.
(With inputs from agencies)
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