US embassy cable - 05BRASILIA821

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRASILIA 000821 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, CASC, KCRM, PHUM, SOCI, BR, Domestic Security & Crime 
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