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Phillips and Pereira were shot dead a year ago as they were returning by boat from a reporting trip in the Amazon.

Police have accused one of the suspects, Rubén Villar, of being the mastermind behind the killing.

The man, who is also known as Côlombia, denied any links to the murder when he was first arrested last year.

Veteran foreign correspondent Dom Phillips visits in a mine in Roraima State, Brazil, on November 14, 2019. - Phillips went missing while researching a book in the Brazilian Amazon's Javari Valley with respected indigenous expert Bruno Pereira. Pereira, an expert at Brazil's indigenous affairs agency, FUNAI, with deep knowledge of the region, has regularly received threats from loggers and miners trying to invade isolated indigenous groups' land. (Photo by Joao LAET / AFP) (Photo by JOAO LAET/AFP via Getty Images)

Brazilian broadcaster TV Globo reported on Sunday that Rubén Villar and Jânio Freitas de Souza had been charged with murder and hiding the bodies of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips.

Bruno Pereira, 41, who had denounced illegal fishing in the region, was helping veteran journalist Dom Phillips, 57, with his research for a book on conservation efforts in the Amazon region.

According to the report by TV Globo's Fantástico programme, Colombian national Rubén Villar ran an illegal fishing racket in the Javari Valley, a remote area near Brazil's border with Peru and Colombia.

The other suspect charged last week, Jânio Freitas de Souza, is suspected of having worked for Rubén Villar's criminal organisation. Both men are already in custody.

Rubén Villar was first arrested in July 2022 for allegedly giving false evidence to the police.

He shared a cell with Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, an illegal fisherman who police say has since confessed to killing Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips.

According to police documents seen by Fantástico reporters, police have audio recordings from inside the cell.

Police say that in the recordings, Rubén Villar can be heard warning his cell mate not to tell officers that it had been he, Rubén Villar, who had provided the ammunition used to kill the two men.

Prosecutors think that phone conversations held between Rubén Villar and Jânio Freitas de Souza on the day of the murder indicate that the crime was premeditated.

The remains of Phillips and Pereira were found 10 days after their disappearance. They had been shot dead, their bodies cut up and buried in the forest.

Commemorations to mark the first anniversary since their disappearance are being held on Monday.

Fresh charges over murder of Lancaster journalist Dom Phillips