Brazil Sends Murderer of American Missionary Back to Prison
2010 - February 2010
Written by Ivan Richard
Friday, 05 February 2010 16:08
American missionary Sister Dorothy Stang, who worked with poor people, often landless farmers, in northern Brazil in a part of the state of Pará known for land conflicts, was assassinated on February 12, 2005. A farmer, Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura, aka Bida, was found guilty of the crime and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
But, as a 30-year sentence is the maximum in Brazil, which doesn't have death penalty, legislation requires a second trial to confirm the sentence. At his second trial, Bida was found not guilty.
At the time of the second trial, and since then, Bida has been free due to a habeas corpus, which was granted pending an appeal by his defense lawyers of the first sentence.
Yesterday, February 4, an appellate court (STJ – 5º turma – 5th circuit) ordered him back to jail. The decision was not unanimous. One of the judges, Arnaldo Esteves Lima, the same judge who gave him the habeas corpus, cited the fact that technically Bida was innocent because of the decision in his second trial, and voted against sending him back to prison.
More:
http://www.brazzilmag.com/component/content/article/82-february-2010/11821-brazil-sends-murderer-of-american-missionary-back-to-prison.htmlShort video: They Killed Sister Dorothy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVaqqPURp1U