The decision by a jury in Brazil last week to acquit an Amazon rancher who was found guilty in an earlier trial of ordering the murder of American nun Dorothy Stang represents a stunning reversal of justice. The 2005 murder of Sister Dorothy, an environmental activist, has been seen as a test of Brazil's judicial system and its willingness to confront the culture of impunity that surrounds powerful landholders in rural areas. Brazil's public is outraged. It should be.
Justice system fails
The government, to its credit, has worked hard to bring Sister Dorothy's killers to justice. The murder of the 73-year-old member of the Order of Notre Dame de Namur attracted international headlines and further notoriety for Brazil's weak system of criminal justice. Prosecutors wanted to send a clear message that the rule of law applies to everyone. Apparently, however, old habits die hard.
Rancher Vitalmiro Moura was convicted in May of 2007 of ordering the killing and sentenced to 30 years in prison. His retrial was the result of an unusual feature of Brazilian law that requires a second trial for first offenders who are sentenced to more than 20 years. Instead of confirming the original verdict, hailed by human-rights groups as a victory in the larger fight for justice, Mr. Moura was acquitted and set free.
Mr. Moura was accused of offering $25,000 for the killing of Sister Dorothy. He was retried along with convicted hit man Rayfran Neves das Sales, whose two earlier convictions were overturned by an appellate court. Sales was convicted yet again and drew a sentence of 28 years.
But Sister Dorothy's brother calls Sales a ''sacrificial lamb'' doing the dirty work of others. Sales told the court he had acted alone and in self-defense, contradicting previous testimony in which he said he had used Mr. Moura's gun. A Brazilian Senate commission that looked at the case found that the killing was part of a wider conspiracy involving a number of ranchers, but only Mr. Moura and another rancher who has managed to avoid trial through a series of legal maneuvers have been charged.
Not the end of it
The verdict by the state jury in Belém should not be the end of it. Among those who have protested the latest verdict are Celso de Mello, a respected member of the nation's Supreme Federal Tribunal; Paulo Vannuchi, head of the president's office of human rights, and Cezar Britto, president of the national bar association. Mr. Vannuchi expressed his ''vehement disagreement'' with the verdict, and others have urged prosecutors to appeal the acquittal to a higher court.
On Friday prosecutors said they would do so. The murder of Sister Dorothy was an outrage. Bringing all her killers to justice would erase a stain on Brazil's image and show that there is no impunity for murderers in any part of the country.
