Senate President Brings Forward Impeachment Session After Pressure from Temer

08/03/2016 - 11h07

After pressure from the Planalto Palace, the president of the Senate, Renan Calheiros (PMDB-AL), relented and said on Tuesday (2) that the final judgment of the impeachment process of suspended President Dilma Rousseff should start on August 25 or 26, in conditions to be determined this month.

The statement is a step backwards in relation to a calendar released at the weekend by the team of the Supreme Court president, Ricardo Lewandowski, who predicted the start of the trial on August 29, which could determine its closure only on September 2.

The possibility of the decision about Rousseff's future being taken only next month caused annoyance at the Planalto Palace. The interim President, Michel Temer, was counting on the vote in August in order to travel to the G-20 (group of the largest economies in the world) summit, in China, on September 4 and 5, as the actual President.

Dilma's defense lawyer, former Justice Minister José Eduardo Cardozo, condemned the move made by Temer. "It is absurd that the government is pushing to shorten the impeachment process. What the defense wants is only to exercise its right of defense," said Cardozo.

On Tuesday, the rapporteur of the impeachment process, Antonio Anastasia (PSDB-MG), presented a special report with 441 pages in favor of the final ousting of the suspended President. "The seriousness of the facts leaves no doubt about the existence not of mere accounting formalities, but of a real attack on the Constitution."

Translated by MARINA DELLA VALLE

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	Myke Sena/FramePhoto/Folhapress
	The president of the Senate, Renan Calheiros, said on Tuesday (2) that the final judgment of the impeachment process should start on August 25 or 26