www.aclu.orgJOIN THE ACLUTAKE ACTIONABOUT US
ACLU Blog of Rights - Official Blog of the ACLU National Office American Civil Liberties Union Homepage Blog of Rights Homepage Support the ACLU
May 16th, 2007
Posted by Gabe Rottman, ACLU Blogger at 09:03am

Blame Gitmo First

Brazil convicts rainforest rancher of nun's murder. Defense argues Gitmo was in her "DNA." You know there's a problem when a Brazilian defense attorney uses Guantanamo Bay to paint an elderly American nun, dedicated to non-violent protest, as a physical threat to a fellow whose very nice livelihood is based on exploiting the rainforest.
At the trial, a convicted gunman testified that he felt "threatened" by the petite nun, a suggestion denounced as absurd by her family and friends, who said Stang was dedicated to nonviolent protest. De Moura had denied knowing Stang, although he acknowledged providing shelter to the two gunmen after the slaying and then going on the lam for 45 days. A defense attorney, Americo Leal, recounted episodes from U.S. history such as the atomic bombing in Japan and the detention of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to bolster his allegation that the Ohio-born nun "shares this DNA of violence." But the argument didn't convince the jury of seven, which voted 5 to 2 for conviction, sufficient under Brazilian law.

Tags: Close Guantanamo, detention, findhabeas, national security project

A Blog of Rights Service Announcement: We are currently implementing some exciting new changes to this website. While we work on this, blog comments have been disabled. But they'll be back up ASAP, so hold that thought and you'll be able to submit your comment soon.

Comment

 

© ACLU, 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor New York, NY 10004
This is the Web site of the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU Foundation.
Learn more about the distinction between these two components of the ACLU.

User Agreement | Privacy Statement | FAQs | Site Map

Statistics image