Case History: Dorothy Stang
On 19 September 2013, Mr Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura, also known as Bida, was sentenced to 30 years in jail for ordering the 2005 murder, of nun and defender of the Amazon, Sr. Dorothy Stang.
Born in the United States, Dorothy Stang spent three decades trying to preserve the rain forest and defending the rights of poor settlers who confronted powerful ranchers seeking their lands in the Amazon region. In 2005, the human rights defender was gunned down with six shots fired at close range from a revolver in the northern Brazilian state of Pará, which is notorious for environmental destruction, land-related violence and contract killings.
On 19 September 2013, Mr Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura, also known as Bida, was sentenced to 30 years in jail for ordering the 2005 murder, of nun and defender of the Amazon, Sr. Dorothy Stang.
Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura had been tried three times previously, but in May 2013 the Supreme Court overturned his conviction and ordered a retrial as his lawyer argued he had not been given enough time to prepare the defence during the trial in 2010.
Vitalmiro’s trial began and ended on 19 September in a state court in Belém, in the northern state of Pará. State Prosecutors reported that the trial was quick as it was the fourth occasion it had been heard, and most of the legal processes had been dealt with in the previous trials.
The court also convicted Mr Regivaldo Galvão for his part in Sr Dorothy Stang’s murder and sentenced him to a 30-year jail term. He had originally been convicted in 2010, but in 2012 the Supreme Court ordered his release, and granted him the right to remain free pending the outcome of his appeal process.
In July 2013, Dorothy Stang’s confessed killer Mr Rayfran das Neves Sales, was released after serving nine of his 27-year sentence, after a Pará state judge recognised his right to serve the rest of the sentence under house arrest.
Born in the United States, Dorothy Stang spent three decades trying to preserve the rain forest and defending the rights of poor settlers who confronted powerful ranchers seeking their lands in the Amazon region. In 2005, the human rights defender was gunned down with six shots fired at close range from a revolver in the northern Brazilian state of Pará, which is notorious for environmental destruction, land-related violence and contract killings.
The Brazilian Chief Minister of the Secretary of Human Rights of the Presidency of the Republic Maria do Rosário has issued a public statement welcoming the verdict and renewing her commitment to follow-up on the trials involving violence against and killings of human rights defenders by groups of hired killers.
On 15 May 2013, Brazil’s Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Mr Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura, also known as Bida, who is accused of ordering the 2005 murder of nun and defender of the Amazon, Sr. Dorothy Stang.
The Supreme Court decided, by three votes against two, that Vitalmiro’s lawyer had not been given enough time to prepare his defence. It ordered his retrial at a yet to be scheduled date, until which point the accused will remain in prison.
This ruling relates to the situation in the previous trial where after Vitalmiro's lawyer failed to appear at his trial in March 2010, he was appointed a public defender and had his trial rescheduled for the 12 April 2010. Vitalmiro was convicted in that trial and sentenced to 30 years in prison
In 2010 Mr Regivaldo Galvão was also convicted for his part in ordering Dorothy Stang’s murder and sentenced to a 30-year jail term. In 2012, the Supreme Court ordered his release, saying he had the right to remain free pending the outcome of his appeal process.
Born in the United States, Dorothy Stang spent three decades trying to preserve the rain forest and defending the rights of poor settlers who confronted powerful ranchers seeking their lands in the Amazon region. In 2005, the human rights defender was gunned down with six shots fired at close range from a revolver in the northern Brazilian state of Pará, which is notorious for environmental destruction, land-related violence and contract killings.
On 4 April 2013, a jury in Marabá, in the state of Pará, Brazil, sentenced Lindonjonson Silva Rocha and Alberto Lopes do Nascimento to prison terms of 42 and 45 years respectively for the May 2011 murders of human rights defenders Maria do Espírito Santo and José Cláudio da Silva. But José Rodrigues Moreira, accused of masterminding the killings, was acquitted as a result of a lack of sufficient evidence.
Brazil has seen several killings over land disputes and perpetrators are rarely punished. Such crimes are mostly carried out by gunmen hired by loggers, ranchers and farmers to get rid of people who protest over illegal logging and land rights. According to Comissão Pastoral da Terra (Pastoral Land Commission), a watchdog group that monitors land conflicts in Brazil, more than 800 land-related killings have taken place in the state of Pará over the past decades, however only 3 individuals are serving time in prison for ordering these crimes – and one of them is Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura.
