A judge in an Amazon state sentenced a rancher to 30 years in prison for ordering the killing of US nun and rain forest defender Dorothy Stang, a case that could open the door to justice in the largely lawless region.
Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura, 36, was convicted on Tuesday of masterminding the shooting of 73-year-old Stang on Feb. 12, 2005, deep in the rain forest she had been defending for decades.
Stang was killed in a dispute over a piece of land she wanted to preserve and ranchers wanted to cut down for development. She has been compared to Chico Mendes, the rubber tapper and union leader shot dead in 1988 in the western Amazon state of Acre.
Judge Raymond Moises Alves Flexa said Moura "showed a violent personality unsuited to living in society," adding that the "killing was carried out in violent and cowardly manner."
The 30-year sentence is the maximum in Brazil, which does not have the death penalty.
Stang's brother, Thomas Stang, who flew to Brazil for the trial, was overcome with emotion as he heard the verdict.
"We've been a long time waiting to exhale," he said. "Dorothy was accused of being a Christian and was one of the few people to have been found guilty."
Thomas Stang's twin brother, David, said the ruling paved the way for Regivaldo Galvao, the other rancher accused of ordering the killing, to stand trial.
Galvao, who is richer and better connected than Moura, remains free on bail while his lawyers continue to file motions aimed at avoiding prosecution.
Stang, a naturalized Brazilian originally from Dayton, Ohio, had been organizing poor settlers around the jungle town of Anapu for the last 23 years of her life.
About 200 settlers from Anapu celebrated the verdict.
"I'm happy because she was a great woman and didn't deserve to be killed," said Eliete Prado, an elderly woman who made an 18-hour bus trip over dirt roads from Anapu to attend the trial.
Human rights defenders called the decision "historic."
Moura is only the fifth mandante, or mastermind, of a land-related killing to be convicted and the only one behind bars.
The judge said Moura must remain imprisoned pending appeal. But because he is a first offender sentenced to more than 20 years, he is automatically granted a new trial under Brazilian law.
"It's going to open the doors and maybe show people there can be justice in Brazil," said Marselha Goncalves Margerin, a program officer with the Washington-based Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights. "As a Brazilian I'm proud this has happened."
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