Officials Detain Brazilian Rancher Regivaldo Galvao In The Shooting Death Of Environmental Activist Sister Dorothy Stang

A Brazilian rancher has been detained by authorities on suspicion of murdering rain forest activist Dorothy Stang. The rancher in question, a man named Regivaldo Galvao, has been detained in his home on the suspicion that he hired another rancher to kill Sister Stang, with whom he had engaged in a dispute over land she wanted placed under federal protection. He was first arrested in 2005, but freed on bailin 2006, using appeals to avoid going to trail ever since.

The prosecutor in the case against Galvao has stated that the land on which Stand was shot is public property and if Galvao claimed to own such land, the case against him could be reopened.

Stang was an American-born, naturalized Brazilian member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur order who spent much of her life defending both Brazil’s poor and the country’s environmental resources. She is quoted as once having described her mission — one that often drew death threats from loggers and land owners — as such:

I don’t want to flee, nor do I want to abandon the battle of these farmers who live without any protection in the forest. They have the sacrosanct right to aspire to a better life on land where they can live and work with dignity while respecting the environment.

Police detain Brazil rancher linked to Stang death [Yahoo]
Dorothy Stang [Wiki]