The confessed killer of a 73-year-old American nun who defended the poor in Brazil's Amazon rain forest told a court on Friday he shot her in self-def

The confessed killer of a 73-year-old American nun who defended the poor in Brazil's Amazon rain forest told a court on Friday he shot her in self-defense, not in a contract killing.


Rayfran das Neves Sales, is seen in a video which shows how he killed nun Dorothy Stang during a trial at Justice Tribunal in Belem, Brazil, on Friday, Dec 9, 2005. Rayfran das Neves Sales and Cloadoaldo Carlos Batista will be the first of five men accused in the killing to stand trial for the Feb. 12 killing of 73-year-old nun gunned down in the remote corner of the Amazon rainforest in a dispute over land. Dorothy Stang spent the last 30 years of her life defending poor settlers in the Amazon rain forest. She was shot near the remote jungle town of Anapu in a dispute over a patch of forest that a local rancher wanted to cut down.(AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
Raifran das Neves Sales told the court in the Amazon city of Belem that he killed the rain forest activist after mistaking her Bible for a gun, not in a contract killing as he had previously stated.

The ranch hand shot Dorothy Stang six times with a revolver on a jungle track in February. He and his employers had clashed with the activist as she set up a government reserve for peasants on land they claimed was theirs.

Stang worked for 30 years fighting for land rights for poor settlers in the Amazon.

Brazilian police claim to have broken up a huge crime ring responsible for carrying out thousands of contract killings over the past half decade

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More than 20 suspects - from businessmen, through police officers to hired assassins - have been arrested in the north-east of the country this week.

The state of Pernambuco, where the majority of the arrests are believed to have taken place, has the highest murder rate in Brazil and was the home of the gang, branded Murder Incorporated.

The local police chief Jorge Pontes claims the crime ring operated like a professional business, prepared to take on absolutely any job and charging between $500 and $2,500 per hit.

"This group practices what we in the police call 'general hospital'," he explained to the BBC.

"We were suddenly faced with this homicide company. Many times the victims were killed because of loan sharks, they owed money."

Russia Contract Killings

Dmitry Shvets, the 37-year-old deputy director-general of the TV-21 Northwestern Broadcasting independent television in the city of Murmansk. He was killed April 18, 2003, when he was shot several times outside the TV-21 office building. TV-21 journalists had reported receiving threats in connection with critical reporting on several influential politicians, including those involved in local mayoral elections.

Paul Klebnikov, the editor of the Russian edition of "Forbes" magazine, was killed July 9, 2004 outside his Moscow office, after being struck by shots fired from a passing car. Klebnikov, a 41-year-old American of Russian descent, had reported extensively on Russia's billionaire oligarchs, including Boris Berezovsky. His family has dismissed attempts to attribute the killing to Chechens acting on the orders of a separatist fighter whom Klebnikov had profiled.

Magomedzagid Varisov, a prominent journalist and political analyst with the "Novoye delo" weekly, was killed June 28, 2005 in Makhachkala, the capital of Daghestan. Assailants carrying automatic rifles opened fire on his car as he was returning home with his wife and driver; Varisov was killed immediately. Varisov had often used his publication to criticize the Daghestani opposition. "Novoye delo" had reportedly received repeated phone call threats against him.

Contracted Killings in Russia

Igor Domnikov, 42, died in a Moscow hospital on 16 July, 2000, two months after being bludgeoned with a hammer in the entryway of his apartment building in Moscow. Domnikov covered culture and education issues for the biweekly newspaper "Novaya gazeta." Domnikov's colleagues say his killer may have mistaken him for another "Novaya gazeta" reporter who had been threatened after investigating corruption in the oil industry. The two reporters lived in the same building.

Sergei Novikov, the owner of the independent Vesna radio station in Smolensk, was shot dead as he entered his apartment building on July 26, 2000. Investigators describe his murder as a contract-style killing. Vesna had broadcast claims of corruption in the regional administration on several occasions. Novikov was 36 years old.

Iskandar Khatloni, the Moscow correspondent for RFE/RL's Tajik Service, was attacked in his apartment on September 21, 2000, by unidentified assailants who hit him in the head with an axe. Khatloni, 46, died later that night a Moscow hospital. He was writing a report on human rights abuses by Russian forces in Chechnya when he was killed.

On October 3, 2000, unknown gunmen killed Sergei Ivanov, the 30-year-old director of the television company Lada-TV, in a courtyard outside his apartment building in the Volga River city Tolyatti, an industrial center that is home to one of Russia's largest automaker, AvtoVAZ. Lada-TV was the largest independent television company in Tolyatti and was influential on the local political scene.

Adam Tepsurgayev, 24, bled to death after Chechen-speaking gunmen shot him in the thigh and groin on November 21, 2000. He had been watching television at a neighbor's house in Alkhan-Kala, a village close to Grozny. Tepsurgayev had worked as a fixer and driver for foreign journalists during the first Chechen war. Later, he had worked as a freelancer for the Reuters news agency.

Eduard Markevich, the editor and publisher of "Novyy reft," a local newspaper in the town of Reftinskiy, in Sverdlovsk Oblast, was found dead on September 18, 2001. He had been shot in the back. "Novyy reft" was often critical of local officials and Markevich, 29, had reported receiving threatening telephone calls. In 1998, two unknown assailants had broken into his apartment and beaten him up in front of his pregnant wife.

Natalya Skryl is currently the only woman on the list. A business reporter with "Nashe vremya" in the southwestern city of Rostov-na-Donu, the 29-year-old Skryl was investigating a power struggle over a metallurgical plant when she was attacked and struck multiple times with a heavy object. She died the following day, on March 9, 2002.

Two journalists from a single newspaper in the industrial city of Tolyatti were killed over the course of 18 months. On April 29, 2002, 32-year-old Valery Ivanov, the editor in chief of "Tolyattinskoye obozreniye" and a deputy in the local legislative assembly, was shot eight times in the head at point-blank range. According to a witness, his killer used a pistol with a silencer and fled the scene on foot. His close friend and successor, 31-year-old Aleksei Sidorov, was killed on October 9, 2003, after being stabbed in the chest with an ice pick. Both men were killed just outside their homes.

13 contract-style killings since Vladimir Putin took office

"The deadliest country for journalists that we've documented in the last 15 years is Iraq," Wright said. "Algeria is the second. But again, these are countries that were experiencing war, major conflicts. What's different about Russia is that there is no declaration of war in Russia itself, it is nominally at peace, and yet we've documented these 13 contract-style killings since Vladimir Putin took office. So that is a major indicator of the kind of press freedom climate that you find today in Russia."

Contracts Completed

October 2006 - campaigning Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya shot dead in Moscow
Sept 2006 - first deputy chairman of Russia's central bank Andrei Kozlov shot dead in Moscow
Oct 2005 - former bank head Alexander Slesarev gunned down near Moscow
July 2004 - US editor of Forbes' Russian edition Paul Klebnikov shot dead in Moscow
Oct 2002 - Magadan governor Valentin Tsvetkov killed in Moscow
Nov 1998 - liberal MP Galina Starovoitova killed in St Petersburg
March 1995 - leading journalist Vladislav Listyev shot dead in Moscow

bloody and lucrative world of caviar smuggling, has been run over and killed in a suspected contract killing.

Russia’s only “sniffer cat”, hailed for its successes in the campaign against the bloody and lucrative world of caviar smuggling, has been run over and killed in a suspected contract killing.

After wandering in to a customs checkpoint as a stray kitten last year, Rusik soon became the scourge of the Stavropol region’s mafia by hunting out caviar being smuggled from the Caspian Sea to Moscow, and on towards the lucrative Western market.

Rusik’s prowess was made public last week. It proved to be a fatal error. Now Rusik is dead, mown down by a car in which he had once discovered smuggled sturgeon.

Rusik’s demise was just the latest blow to Stavropol’s crime-fighters. Another cat, Barsik, succumbed a few weeks ago after eating a poisoned mouse.

The gangland murder of Jordanka Zapryanova

The gangland murder of Jordanka Zapryanova shocked police hardened to underworld violence and showed the mountain that Bulgaria still has to climb to combat the mafia and purge its judicial system of corruption.

Mrs Zapryanova, the mother of a murdered mobster, was shot dead the day before she was due to give evidence in court against one of her son’s former associates.

Details of her whereabouts had been leaked to the mob in a sign of worsening corruption and in spite of Bulgaria’s promise when it joined the European Union to clean up its police and prosecution services.

Mr Hyland was killed by six shots fired from weapons fitted with silencers as he lay in bed in his niece's house

Mr Hyland was killed by six shots fired from weapons fitted with silencers as he lay in bed in his niece's house. The killers also shot dead Anthony Campbell, a young apprentice plumber who had been working in the house at the time and who may have been a potential witness. Mr Campbell, 20, was described as an innocent young man who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Few are shedding tears over the killing of Hyland, as he was known as a killer who had chosen his violent criminal lifestyle. The same applies to most of those who have been killed this year, since the majority of them were regarded as underworld figures.

But there has been an outpouring of emotion about Mr Campbell's murder, because the young man was not involved in the criminal world. And only last week, a Kilkenny postmaster was shot dead while pursuing a gunman who had robbed his post office.

With 21 people killed in gun crimes last year, the authorities have already assigned more police officers and resources to tackle violent organised crime. But the drugs world is awash with money - stashes totalling more than €23m (£15.5m) have been seized recently.

The RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary) were directly involved in the

The RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary) were directly involved in the
London plot by South African state agents to assassinate former security police
officer and political dissident, Dirk Coetzee, it was revealed this week.
According to a secret South African government document, the RUC team
not only provided surveillance and intelligence on the intended target, but also
offered to "take him out" if required.
The document also reveals that South African agent, Leon Flores, paid
2,000 pounds sterling to a Northern Ireland contact, Charles Simpson "for
services rendered by his RUC friends in monitoring the activities of Dirk
Coetzee."

San Francisco Police Department's Intelligence Unit

Irish political activists have expressed concern over revelations that information
gathered by members of the San Francisco Police Department's Intelligence Unit
may have been sold to representatives of the South African and Israeli
governments. At present, it appears that an officer, Tim Gerard, is the main
suspect. Gerard, who recently resigned from the department, is believed to be
in the Philippines. The Philippines and the United States do not have an
extradition treaty.

no traces of radiation in Russian ex-prime minister's system

Irish medical experts have found no traces of radiation in Russian ex-prime minister's system, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported Saturday.

Following Scotland Yard's probe into the radioactive killing of a former Russian spy, Irish police said Friday they launched an investigation into the mysterious poisoning of a former Russian premier.

more than 155 contract killings in public

Bulgaria is the shocker: more than 155 contract killings in public since 2000, according to interior ministry figures. To be rich, to be in politics, to be president of the Lokomotiv Plovdiv football club – all these have been repeatedly shown to be lethal. The Commission expresses “great concern” over the killing of local politicians this year, and the lack of prosecution or conviction.

1994 contract killing of her brother-in-law.

Still adamant that she was framed by a vindictive ex-lover, attorney Beth Carpenter was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole for her role in the 1994 contract killing of her brother-in-law.

Carpenter, 38, sobbed quietly but said nothing during a 90-minute hearing that ended with Judge Robert Devlin Jr. imposing the only sentence allowed by state law. Devlin called the March 10, 1994, shooting death of 28-year-old Anson "Buzz" Clinton of East Lyme "insane" and something that Carpenter could have prevented.

A man found with serious stab wounds

A man found with serious stab wounds to his leg in Swords, Co Dublin, in the early hours of yesterday morning has died from his injuries in the city's Mater Hospital

One of the most powerful drug dealers in the Ireland

One of the most powerful drug dealers in the Ireland and an apprentice plumber were shot dead in a north Dublin house, today.


Forensic officers
at the scene of a double fatal shooting in Scribblestown Park in Finglas

The bodies of the men were discovered at Scribblestown Park, Finglas, at around 10am today by gardaí who had been called to the scene.

Martin "Marlo" Hyland (39) from Cabra, was one of the biggest sellers of cocaine and heroin in Ireland. He was asleep asleep in an upstairs bedroom when the attack happened.

He was also suspected of being involved in a number of recent contract killings in and around the Dublin area and had been under GArda surveillance.

Gardaí believe the shooting dead of a 28-year-old woman in north Co Dublin last night was carried out by a professional killer

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Baiba Saulite, a Latvian and a mother of two, was shot by a lone man as she stood in the hallway of her home at Holywell Square, Feltrim Road, Swords.


Her sons aged three and five were asleep upstairs when the shooting occurred at around 9.45pm last night.