Eclipsed from the headlines by the ongoing carnage, there is an active
civil resistance in Iraq that opposes the occupation, the torture regime
it protects, and the jihadi and Ba'athist 'resistance' alike.
Submitted by Bill Weinberg on Mon, 05/21/2007 - 03:01.
From Weekly News Update on the Americas:
On May 15 a jury in the Brazilian state of Para convicted a wealthy rancher, Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura, of ordering the Feb. 12, 2005, murder of Dorothy Stang, a US-born nun and land rights activist. He was given the maximum sentence, 30 years in prison.
Hundreds of Stang's supporters camped in the plaza outside the court while jurors heard the case. The 73-year-old nun, a naturalized Brazilian originally from Dayton, Ohio, worked for 23 years in the jungle town of Anapu organizing poor settlers. Three men were convicted previously in the killing, and all recanted their earlier testimony against Moura during the trial. But prosecutors and Stang supporters said that was expected. "I believe they made a deal with the defendant, but I don't think the jury will buy it, because it's obviously a setup," said Jose Batista Afonso, a lawyer for a Catholic Church land rights organization.
There have been nearly 800 killings in land disputes over the past 30 years, and only a few have resulted in convictions. "Maybe this is the beginning of justice," said Romeiro Batista Medeiros, a councillor for Anapu. Stang's family said they were disappointed Pope Benedict didn't mention the case during a visit to Brazil which ended on May 13. (Independent Catholic News, May 15 from Los Angeles Times, BBC; Associated Press, May 15)
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The inconvenient facts and unanswered questions surrounding the attacks are legion, but the endemic sloppiness of the self-styled "researchers" is delegitimizing the entire project of critiquing the "official version." The ostentatiously named "Truth movement" is not clearing the air, but muddying the water.
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From Weekly News Update on the Americas:
On May 15 a jury in the Brazilian state of Para convicted a wealthy rancher, Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura, of ordering the Feb. 12, 2005, murder of Dorothy Stang, a US-born nun and land rights activist. He was given the maximum sentence, 30 years in prison.
Hundreds of Stang's supporters camped in the plaza outside the court while jurors heard the case. The 73-year-old nun, a naturalized Brazilian originally from Dayton, Ohio, worked for 23 years in the jungle town of Anapu organizing poor settlers. Three men were convicted previously in the killing, and all recanted their earlier testimony against Moura during the trial. But prosecutors and Stang supporters said that was expected. "I believe they made a deal with the defendant, but I don't think the jury will buy it, because it's obviously a setup," said Jose Batista Afonso, a lawyer for a Catholic Church land rights organization.
There have been nearly 800 killings in land disputes over the past 30 years, and only a few have resulted in convictions. "Maybe this is the beginning of justice," said Romeiro Batista Medeiros, a councillor for Anapu. Stang's family said they were disappointed Pope Benedict didn't mention the case during a visit to Brazil which ended on May 13. (Independent Catholic News, May 15 from Los Angeles Times, BBC; Associated Press, May 15)