Associated Press
By Michael Astor
April 4, 2000

VITORIA, Brazil (AP) -- Testifying in the murder trial of the leader of millions of landless Brazilians, witnesses said Jose Rainha Jr. was far away at the time of the killings of two men.

In a case that has refocused attention on the often bloody dispute over land in Brazil, defense lawyers presented depositions Monday from seven witnesses -- including four city council members -- who said they met with Rainha near the northeastern city of Fortaleza on Jun. 5, 1989.

Rainha is charged with killing farm owner Jose Machado Neto and an off-duty policeman that day during a botched attempt to take over a farm in Espirito Santo state -- over a thousand a miles from Fortaleza.

Rainha has denied the charges.

The trial, which began Monday and is expected to run through today, is the second for Rainha. At an earlier trail three years ago, he was convicted and sentenced to 26 1/2 years in prison.

In Brazil anyone sentenced to more than 20 years in prison is automatically granted a retrial.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, presented seven hours of testimony and 10 witnesses who said they saw Rainha leading the invasion of the Ipuera farm. Rainha's movement, the Landless Rural Workers Movement, also known as MST, invades idle land to speed up agrarian reform.

Supporters say Rainha was framed to silence him just as his movement was gaining support from Brazil's middle class.

Over a thousand people have died over the past decade in the struggle by the landless in Brazil, where the richest 20 percent of the people hold 90 percent of the land, while the poorest 40 percent own just 1 percent.

At the first trial, prosecutors produced no witnesses, and the sworn depositions contained vague descriptions of the defendant. Still, the jury of seven -- which included four friends of the dead farm owner -- voted 4-3 to convict Rainha after a 17-hour trial. In Brazil, a majority vote by the jury is needed to convict.

"The last trial was clearly unfair," said Julia Rochester, a researcher from Amnesty International who flew in from London to attend the trial. "There was not a single eyewitness, and the conviction was based solely on his membership in the MST."