Man accused of ordering murder of Sister Dorothy Stang gets new trial
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
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SAO PAULO, Brazil (CNS) -- Five years after the murder of U.S.-born Sister Dorothy Stang, a man accused of ordering her killing will face his third trial.
Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura, nicknamed Bida, will begin a new trial March 31. He remains in jail following a court order that he return to prison because of the power he wields in the region where the crime occurred.
Initially, de Moura was found guilty of ordering the murder of Sister Dorothy, a member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. His lawyers are seeking his release from prison. Another man accused of ordering the murder, Regivaldo Pereira Galvao, is also awaiting trial.
With de Moura back in jail, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur decided to halt disclosure of Sister Dorothy's letters to government authorities denouncing the troubles peasants suffered at the hands of powerful land owners.
American Notre Dame Sister Rebecca Spires said the disclosure of Sister Dorothy's documents would be "inconvenient" at this time.
"We don't want to harm the procedural work and we have a positive, collaborative relationship with the authorities," she said in a telephone interview in mid-February.
The more than 300 letters, written mostly by hand, were in two cardboard boxes in the little room where Sister Dorothy lived in Anapu, a small village in the middle of the Amazon jungle. She documented every infringement on the rights of the poor communities of the area and wrote to all competent authorities about land disputes, deforestation, crimes against the environment and violence against peasants.
It took more than a year to sort through the letters, which were attached to the case's court proceedings.
Initially, Notre Dame de Namur sisters wanted to disclose the documents to the public at the beginning of Lent to prod authorities to get the long-delayed trial moving again. However, Sister Rebecca said the congregation will wait to see further developments in the trial before making the documents public.
The Feb. 12 anniversary of Sister Dorothy's death was commemorated with a vigil and dance in Anapu, because she loved dance and was a very joyful person, said Sister Rebecca.
Copyright © 2010 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Dorothy Stang
By david stang (not verified) on Tuesday, April 6, 2010The trial of Bida, March 31st did not happen because the defense lawyers refused to show up for the trial. There was no legal ground for publicly insulting this Judicial Trial. Even though Mbiriba, the defense lawyer claimed on Public TV (O Liberal) in Belem within two hours of not showing up in the Court Room, that they wanted more time to prepare for the trial due to his Habeas Corpus not being settled by a Supreme Court Justice in Brazilia, this excuse has no legal standing and the Habeas Corpus could have been handled in the trial. We the Stang Family, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, our Prosecutor Edson, our witnesses, the Farmers from Anapu, the Judge, all who were all present in the courtroom, many spending money to be there, were publicly insulted by this lack of justice. We feel great concern for this corruption of the process for justice and the fear that is created by this impunity. Within two hours after the trial did not happen a President of a Federal Union of Farm Workers in the State of Para was murdered. Within three hours Mbiriba wished to debate a person from the Dorothy Stang Committee. We refused sayng the debate needed to take place in the courtroom. Where were you we replied.
David Stang
Why a murder trial should take 5 years?
By Olga (not verified) on Sunday, February 28, 2010It's a shame that a murderer of Sister Dorothy Stang, still awaits trial after 5 years!!!!
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