Brazilian Convicted in Death of Nun

Source: Associated Press

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A jury on Saturday convicted a Brazilian rancher of orchestrating the 2005 murder of an American-born nun.

The rancher, Regivaldo Galvão, the last of five defendants to stand trial in the case, was sentenced to 30 years in prison, said Telma Lima, a spokeswoman with the federal court in the jungle city of Belém.

The nun, Dorothy Stang, originally from Dayton, Ohio, had been leading a fight to preserve a piece of the Amazon rainforest that ranchers wanted to clear for logging and cattle ranching.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/world/americas/02amazon.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

to pay for the contract murder of this dedicated woman who sought Brazilian citizenship to better merge with the people she cared about so much she wanted to spend the rest of her life working to help in their struggle for survival.

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Brazilian rancher convicted in killing of U.S.-born nun
By Bradley Brooks
Sunday, May 2, 2010

RIO DE JANEIRO -- A jury convicted a Brazilian rancher Saturday of orchestrating the slaying of U.S.-born nun and Amazon defender Dorothy Stang in 2005.

Regivaldo Galvao -- the last of five defendants to stand trial in the case -- was sentenced to 30 years in prison, said Telma Lima, a spokeswoman for the federal court in Belem, the jungle city where the trial was held.

The verdict came two weeks after another rancher, Vitalmiro Moura, was sentenced to 30 years in prison after being found guilty of collaborating with Galvao.

Prosecutors said the pair offered to pay a gunman $25,000 to kill the 73-year-old Stang because she had prevented them from stealing a piece of land that the government had granted to a group of poor farmers.

More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/01/AR2010050102852.html