Brazil’s Rousseff demands ‘justice’ in impeachment trial
Thursday she will demand “justice” when she
defends herself next week at an impeachment trial.
Rousseff was suspended from office in May over
accusations that she fiddled with state accounts to
make the numbers look better in an election year.
Senators will vote on whether to remove her from
office for good after an impeachment trial starting
on August 25.
The leftist leader, 68, has denied breaking budget
laws.
“I expect justice from the Senate,” Rousseff told a
gathering of foreign correspondents on Thursday.
“In the Senate, I will argue not only for democracy
and respect for the direct vote of the Brazilian
people, but also for justice.”
Rousseff is widely expected to lose the impeachment
vote, since media calculate that a large majority of
Senators will vote against her. But she said on
Thursday she was refusing to think about defeat.
She is scheduled to have half an hour on August 29
to present her defense in person. The Senate’s final
vote is expected on August 31.
Rousseff has branded the impeachment drive a
“coup” by her former vice-president and interim
successor Michel Temer and other conservative
rivals.
“He did not want to be a mere decorative figure. He
wanted to be president,” she said. “He betrayed
me.”
She said that if she was spared by the Senate, she
would back a referendum on holding early
elections.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday authorized an
investigation into allegations that Rousseff tried to
obstruct a corruption probe into the state oil firm
Petrobras.
The probe has dragged in politicians on both sides
of the political fence, including allies of Temer
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