Reply #20: Friends of slain US nun vow to press Brazil fight [View All]

Friends of slain US nun vow to press Brazil fight
Sun Dec 11, 2005 3:38 PM ET

By Andrew Hay
BELEM, Brazil (Reuters) - Two Brazilian ranch hands began long prison sentences on Sunday after they were convicted of murdering American nun and rain forest activist Dorothy Stang in a trial seen as a test of Brazil's will to combat land battle killings on its Amazon frontier.

But Stang's supporters said they were now ready to go after ranchers accused of offering the two men 50,000 reais to kill the activist, who blocked their advance on valuable, hard-wood rich rain forest.

"This is just the beginning, we'll be back" said Stang's sister Margaret, as land activists wept and hugged one another after the two-day trial in the Amazon city of Belem, the capital of Para state.

Three ranchers accused of ordering and planning the slaying are fighting their case through Brazil's appeal courts.
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http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-12-11T203817Z_01_MOL173204_RTRUKOC_0_US-BRAZIL-NUN-TRIAL.xml&archived=False