June 7 would have been Ohio-born Sister Dorothy Stang's 75th birthday. This is the second birthday that has passed since she was brutally cut down by assassins' bullets in the Brazilian Amazon more than a year ago.

As time passes, we continue to fight for justice, following the powerful example she set in the 39 years she lived among her beloved community of poor landless farmers in Brazil.

Members of her family and I were present when history was written April 26 in Brazil: The man who hired the gunmen who killed Sister Dorothy was brought to trial and sentenced to 18 years.

Now, however, there is a possibility that justice will stall and impunity reign for powerful economic interests in Brazil that have carried out acts of violence against landless farmers.

Just as violence against civil-rights workers in the early 1960s was permitted by state courts throughout the American South, violence against landless farmers in Brazil has often been tolerated by the Brazilian legal system. For justice to be served, two powerful ranchers who allegedly ordered and paid for Sister Dorothy's murder must be brought to trial.

Regivaldo Pereira Galvao, one of the two, awaits a response to his appeal, in which he has asked that he be released from prison pending the setting of a trial date. If he is released, there is a strong possibility that he could leave Brazil and never stand trial. There have been so many examples in the past of similar situations that the likelihood of history repeating itself is quite high.

Granting Galvao's appeal will thwart justice. Brazil has a moral and a legal obligation to ensure that he stands trial for what would be considered first-degree murder in this country. There is sworn testimony from a convicted middleman that Galvao was directly involved in planning and financing the murder, evidence that should be enough to keep him in custody pending trial.

The Brazilian secretary for human rights, Paulo Vannuchi, and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva should denounce impunity and express the need to bring Galvao to trial promptly. It was Vannuchi's predecessor,

Nilmario Miranda, after all, who Sister Dorothy told of the death threats against her a mere 10 days before she was killed. It is only fitting that the person who now holds his office be front and center in the public dialogue surrounding these issues.

This is a critical moment in the history of equal justice in Brazil. The Brazilian justice system has an opportunity to demonstrate that it can and will protect human rights and honor its domestic and international legal obligations to do so.

Emily S. Goldman is a senior program officer at the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights in Washington. This editorial appeared in the Miami Herald and the Dayton Daily News among other Cox News Service Papers.