Jail for ritual Amazon killing

Two men have been sentenced to a total of 92 years in prison for the kidnapping and ritual killing of young boys in a remote Amazon town.

Amailton Madeira Gomes was given 57 years and Carlos Alberto Santos 35 years for attacking five boys, three of whom died. The other two escaped after being mutilated.

The trial, 13 years after the first killings, was seen as a test of Brazil's ability to bring justice to isolated areas where the legal system may be under the sway of powerful locals.

Three other defendants will be tried this week.

They include Valentina de Andrade, whom the prosecution says is the leader of a sect known as the Superior Universal Alignment, accused of carrying out the killings.

The prosecution says Andrade's sect was founded on the belief that she was contacted by a medium, who told her boys born after 1981 were possessed by the devil.