Brazilian police have charged a Colombian fish trader with plotting to kill indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips in the Amazon in 2022, they said Monday.

The statement did not name the accused, but a police officer told The Associated Press that he is Ruben Dario da Silva Villar, and a second source with direct knowledge of the indictment confirmed this. Da Silva Villar is accused of providing the ammunition used in the crime and helping to hide the bodies.

In testimony, he denied any wrongdoing.

Da Silva Villar has been in prison since July 2022, a month after the two men were killed while traveling by boat on the Itaquai River.

According to the federal police investigation, da Silva Villar financed an illegal fishing operation inside the Javari Valley indigenous territories, where thousands of indigenous people live, including the largest concentration of uncontacted groups in the world.

The killings were motivated by Pereira’s efforts to monitor and enforce environmental laws in the region, police said. “The victim was dedicated to protecting the environment and upholding indigenous rights,” the statement said. Phillips was accompanying Pereira on research for a book on the Amazon, to be published posthumously.

Pereira had previously worked as a clerk at the indigenous office in Brazil, but at the time of his death he was on leave and working as a consultant for the local indigenous association known as Univaja.

Nine people were indicted during the two-year investigation, including Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira and Jefferson da Silva Lima, who confessed to the killings but claimed self-defense. A court ruled that both would be tried by jury.

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