BRASILIA – Police in the northeastern Brazilian state of Maranhao arrested seven people on Wednesday in connection with the April 23 murder of a journalist.

Decio Sa, a political reporter and blogger, was gunned down at a bar in Sao Luis, the state capital.

One of those detained on Wednesday was a 24-year-old man with a history of murder for hire, Sa’s colleagues said on the slain journalist’s blog.

Another person wanted in connection with the murder, Valdênio Jose da Silva, was killed Monday in Sao Luis.

Chief investigator Marcos Afonso Junior said the killing of Da Silva might have some connection to Sa’s murder.

The slaying of the 42-year-old Sa sparked denunciations from journalists in Brazil and abroad, as well as an official condemnation from the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay.

Noting that Sa was the fourth journalist killed in Brazil this year, the Inter American Press Association called for a prompt and effective investigation. EFE