Ex-chief of Brazil’s Indigenous agency charged over murders of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips

Marcelo Xavier is accused of indirectly contributing on the grounds that he failed to take steps to protect workers in the Amazon

Federal police have brought criminal charges against the former head of Brazil’s Indigenous protection agency for alleged acts of omission they believe indirectly paved the way for the murders of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips in the Amazon last year.

Brazil’s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro made Marcelo Xavier the head of the Indigenous agency Funai in July 2019, six months into his environmentally-devastating four-year administration.