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Suspects Jose Rodrigues Moreira, left, and Lindon Jonhson are escorted upon their arrival in Belem, Brazil, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2011. Jonhson and Rodrigues were detained Sunday in a forested area near Novo Repartimento, in Brazil's Para state, in the murder of environmentalist activists Jose Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife Maria do Espirito Santo who were shot to death last May. The killings occurred just hours before Brazil's lower house of Congress passed legislation environmentalists warned will increase deforestation in the region.

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Authorities say brothers Jose Rodrigues Moreira and Lindonjonson Silva Rocha were found hiding Sunday in a rural area of Para state.

Para is where activists Jose Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife, Maria, were killed in May while trying to help landless families.

A judge ordered the men's arrest in July based on evidence presented by police and prosecutors. They had been fugitives since then.

The watchdog group Catholic Land Pastoral says more than 1,150 rural activists have been killed in Brazil over the past 20 years. It says the slayings are mostly carried out by gunmen working for loggers, ranchers and farmers.