Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05BRASILIA821
2005-03-28 19:44:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Brasilia
Cable title:  

FOURTH SUSPECT IN BRAZIL NUN'S MURDER SURRENDERS

Tags:  PGOV CASC KCRM PHUM SOCI BR 
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRASILIA 000821 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV CASC KCRM PHUM SOCI BR
SUBJECT: FOURTH SUSPECT IN BRAZIL NUN'S MURDER SURRENDERS
TO POLICE

REF: A. BRASILIA 369


B. BRASILIA 437

C. BRASILIA 464

D. BRASILIA 532

E. BRASILIA 581

F. BRASILIA 606

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRASILIA 000821

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV CASC KCRM PHUM SOCI BR
SUBJECT: FOURTH SUSPECT IN BRAZIL NUN'S MURDER SURRENDERS
TO POLICE

REF: A. BRASILIA 369


B. BRASILIA 437

C. BRASILIA 464

D. BRASILIA 532

E. BRASILIA 581

F. BRASILIA 606


1. (U) The fourth and most senior suspect in the murder of US
citizen missionary Dorothy Stang turned himself in to
Brazilian federal authorities on March 27. Vitalmiro Bastos
Moura (aka "Bida"),34, an area rancher who is alleged to
have been the mastermind behind Stang's February 12 murder,
surrendered yesterday after weeks of negotiations by his
attorney. He is the last of four suspects to be arrested.
The other three (two gunmen and one middleman) were all in
custody by February 21. Bida insisted on surrendering to
federal, rather than state, police. He was taken into
custody on a roadside near the town of Altamira, in the rural
interior of Para state, at 12:30pm on March 27 and flown to
the state capital of Belem, where he gave a five-hour
statement in the presence of his attorneys, state and federal
officials, and federal Senator Ana Julia Carepa, who has
followed the case closely.


2. (U) After giving his statement, Bida was taken to the
auditorium in the Federal Police building where he denied to
the gathered press any involvment in Stang's murder. Asked
about the two gunmen hiding out on his ranch after the crime,
Bida said, "I just told them to get out of there because I
didn't want any complications for me". State police
supervisor Ualame Machado noted that there is strong evidence
against Bida and "now he needs to explain how he could give
shelter to the killers for two days and why the gun used in
the crime was found on his ranch". As part of his demands
for turning himself in, Bida will be held in the Federal
Police lockup in Belem rather than in the state jail with the
other three suspects. Bida raises cattle on two ranches
totalling 3,000 hectares. In 2004, he was described in a
report by INCRA (the GoB's agrarian reform agency) as a
"major land thief". After Stang's murder, INCRA seized a
third ranch he had been using as pasture (allegedly with a
forged title).


3. (SBU) The state Civil Police in Para have already
concluded their investigation into the Stang murder itself
and passed their findings to the state prosecutor,
recommending indictments against all four suspects for murder
with two aggravating circumstances (financial motivation and
the victim's inability to defend herself). The two gunmen
have confessed their guilt, and have alternately implicated
Bida and denied that he was involved. But the state police
are also conducting a second investigation, still ongoing,
into the question of whether Bida was the only mastermind or
whether he conspired with other area landowners to raise the
promised contract money (about US$18,000 --which the gunmen
never received). The Civil Police are scheduled to interview
Bida on March 28 on this issue. Separately, our contacts
among the federal authorities in Belem say that Bida is
prepared to implicate at least two other ranchers in return
for leniency, and that he may also accuse the state police of
trying to extort money from him.

SUPREME COURT TO RULE ON "FEDERALIZATION"
--------------

4. (SBU) The murder case against the four suspects is
proceeding in the Para state system. State prosecutors
reportedly plan to try Bida separately so as not to slow down
the case against the first three suspects. But there are
widespread concerns (reftels) that the state judicial system
is compromised by links to large landowners and that justice
will not be realized unless the case is taken over by federal
authorities. From the beginning, the Federal Police and
federal prosecutor's office have conducted their own
investigation parallel to the state case. A law passed last
December allows the federal government to take over serious
human rights cases from the states, and the Stang murder is
the trial-run for this law. In early March, federal
Prosecutor-General Claudio Fontelles filed a petition with
the federal Supreme Justice Court (STJ) asking to federalize
the case. In order to rule on the petition, the STJ then
requested further information on the case from the Para state
authorities. The STJ received this information last week,
and STJ Judge Arnaldo Esteves indicated last week he is
waiting to hear the views of the defendants before the STJ
will decide whether to transfer the case to federal
authorities.
DANILOVICH