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One year without Dom and Bruno
Justice for Dom?
AS IF TO MARK the first anniversary of the killing of London Freelance Branch member Dom Phillips, on 5 June Brazilian authorities announced charges against "ringleaders" in his killing in the Brazilian Amazon, and that of Bruno Pereira, a former official with the country's Indian Affairs department with whom Dom was researching a book. See more below: first, we hear from a memorial event in London.
Domonique Davies reads a poem in memory of her late uncle Dom Phillips
A year ago this month, Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips set off from the frontier Brazilian town of Atalaia do Norte, on what would be their last journey. Indigenous leaders have unveiled a wooden cross with their names carved on it near the site where they were killed. In London, Dom's family and supporters hosted an event about their lives and legacies on 5 June at the Rich Mix arts centre in London.
Dom's sister Sian said that the last year has been intense and traumatic - but there have also been some very inspiring moments, such as one of the First Nation leaders telling her that "we all have to fall in love with the Amazon again." These words resonated deeply with her: one of the last Instagram messages that Dom posted read: "The Amazon is so beautiful!".
"Every morning during the last year, I have woken up and realise anew that my brother has been killed. He is still part of my world, and I find it difficult to process that he is no longer with us. So I try to discover more about his and Bruno's work. They understood the urgency in which the political and economical approach to conservation needs to change, and they were both actively working on practical solutions. Bruno was training local indigenous people to patrol the rainforests and protect them against illegal miners and Dom was working in sustainable fishing projects with the riverside communities. I find enormous inspiration in the legacy of their work."
Domonique Davies, Dom's niece, recited a poem inspired by one of his articles for the Guardian about a coral reef being threatened by oil exploration in the mouth of the Amazon river. She finished with another set of moving verses about discovering her first grey hair on the day he went missing.
Guardian global environment editor Jonathan Watts, who is based in Brazil, reminded us of the unfinished business of Dom's book How to Save the Amazon: Ask the People Who Know. A crowd-funding effort is raising enough money to see it in a unique format, allowing different authors to write the remaining five chapters with various approaches and styles, thus making it a collaborative work - something they all feel Dom would have been happy with.
Beatriz Matos and Alessandra Sampaio, the partners of Bruno and Dom, respectively, could not join the event together, but they met to talk about living and fighting for life one year after the brutal murders of their loved ones in an interview for Sumauma.com - a journalistic platform promoting a unique initiative to tell stories from the perspective of the first nations that live in the Amazon.
Dom Phillips (centre) with other journalists at a breakfast with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (left) on 19 July 2019
A long road to a reckoning...
In the two weeks after Dom and Bruno were killed, three were arrested on suspicion of their murder. All were believed to be low-level players. They were charged on 22 July.
In early August another five were arrested. Police were said to believe that the killers were worried that Pereira had photographs of them fishing in prohibited areas for endangered species, including turtles and pirarucu fish, one of which can fetch up to $1000 at markets in Brazil and Colombia.
In the meantime one man had been arrested for using false identity papers and police said they had identified him as Ruben Dario da Silva Villar.
Hopes were not high for any progress toward charging those responsible for ordering the killing while Jair Bolsonaro was President of Brazil. Under Bolsonaro's right-wing populist government, enforcement of laws intended to protect the Amazon forest and its peoples had pretty much ceased. Illegal felling and mining were rampant.
On 31 October 2022, however, Bolsonaro lost an election to Luiz Inácio da Silva, the Workers' Party candidate known as "Lula". Despite Trump-style blustering by Bolsonaro and supporters, Lula remains in power and has pledged to crack down on illegal activity in the rainforest.
Now, on 5 June 2023, prosecutors say Ruben Dario da Silva Villar is the leader of an illegal fishing network that operated in Brazil, Colombia and Peru. The charges against him include ordering the murders.
Dom Phillips, 1964-2022 Jul 2022
The Bruno and Dom project TheGuardian.com
For Dom, Bruno & the Amazon exhibition now online