Impeachment: Chief Justice calls for courage and independence to senators

When opening today (Aug. 9) the Senate's session that will vote on whether to indict suspended President Dilma Rousseff on charges of breaking budget laws, Chief Supreme Court (STF) Justice Ricardo Lewandowski explained that his duty there is only to coordinate the work. Therefore, he will not intervene in discussions, "nor express any opinion and value judgment on the merits."

He noted that senators will now serve the role of judges of the case, "for that reason you should vote with courage and independence, solely guided by your conscience and by the constitutional and legal rules that approach the matter."

Before assigning the Senate presidency to the chief justice, Senate President Renan Calheiros pointed out the gravity of the decision to be taken by the senators, who will be judges of the acts committed by the suspended president. "We should do it escaping our parties' political convictions as much as possible, and we should bear the responsibility falling on this role of judges established by the Constitution," he said.

Rules

The chief justice pledged that as they expect a long session—to last more than 20 hours—he will be very rigorous about the 10-minute time given for each senator to express themselves.

Translated by Amarílis Anchieta