Dorothy Stang was shot at point-blank range

Rayfran das Neves Sales was again found guilty of killing Sister Dorothy on the orders of two ranchers in 2005.

He had been granted an automatic retrial under Brazilian law because his first sentence was more than 20 years.

Sister Dorothy campaigned for poor farmers' rights and to preserve the rainforest from loggers and developers.

Her murder followed a dispute with ranchers over land they wanted to clear for pasture and she wanted to protect.

Sales (left) insisted no one had paid him to commit the crime

Sales admitted shooting Sister Dorothy, 73, on a remote track in the state of Para but denied he had been paid to kill her.

He again said he had acted in self-defence because she had threatened him and he feared for his life.

At his first trial he had said he mistook the bible she was taking out of her bag for a gun.

Disputes

Sales was again on trial at a court in the northern city of Belem. At the first hearing in December 2005, he was found guilty and given 27 years in jail, triggering the automatic retrial.

An accomplice, Clodoaldo Batista, was sentenced to 17 years and an intermediary, Amair Cunha, received 18 years.

In May this year, rancher Vitalmiro Bastos Moura was sentenced to 30 years for paying gunmen to kill Sister Dorothy.

His automatic retrial is set for Thursday.

Another rancher, Regivaldo Galvao, has also been accused of ordering the nun's murder but has yet to be tried.

Both ranchers deny the charges.