Brasília - The trial of two of the five hired gunmen and mentors in the murder of the American nun, Dorothy Stang, begins today in the city of Belem, capital of the state of Pará. The opening session will be attended by the head of the Special Secretariat of Human Rights, minister Mario Mamede, and the special UN representative for Human Rights Defense, Hina Jilani.

Stang was a social activist and environmentalist who worked many years in small rural communities in the area of Anapu, Pará, helping the poor in their struggle to obtain land rights and create sustainable development projects that did not destroy natural resources. She died in February of this year from six gunshot wounds.

Translation: Allen Bennett