Brazil convict remains jailed in nun's murder

[Judi Lynn]

Brazil convict remains jailed in nun's murder
By JULIANA BARBASSA Associated Press
Published: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 at 1:26 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 at 1:26 p.m.

A rancher convicted of masterminding the murder of a U.S. nun who was also an environmental activist will have to stay in jail while his case is appealed, Brazil's top court ruled.

The Supreme Court denied a request for release from Vitalmiro Moura, one of the men found guilty of ordering the murder of 73-year-old Dorothy Stang in 2005. The court issued the ruling June 14, but the decision was not announced in a news release until Monday.

Stang was shot down in the Amazonian state of Para after working for 30 years to protect the rain forest and defend poor settlers' land rights.

Moura is the only person currently in prison for ordering the killing of an activist anywhere in the Amazon and was sentenced to 30 years in 2007. Another rancher also convicted of ordering Stang's murder, Regivaldo Galvao, is free pending an appeal.

More:
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20110621/API/1106210847

http://www.glogster.com.nyud.net:8090/media/4/24/3/18/24031885.jpg http://www.trinitydc.edu.nyud.net:8090/president/files/2010/02/Dot-Stang-Presente-copy.jpg

Dorothy Stang

http://www.clubeletras.net.nyud.net:8090/blog/images/Bida.jpg http://www.jornaldelondrina.com.br.nyud.net:8090/midia/tn_280_651_Dorothy_Stang_acusado_230409.jpg

Vitalmiro "Bida" Moura