Lawyer Hélio Bicudo files 21st case for Rousseff impeachment

A former deputy who was among the founding members of the now-ruling Workers' Party (PT), lawyer Hélio Bicudo filed charges for impeachment against President Dilma Rousseff with the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday (Sept. 1st). The 93-year-old retired prosecutor enclosed copies of legal opinions, complaints, judicial decisions and reports with his case. “Since the facts are common knowledge, the complainants deem that they provide sufficient ground to initiate impeachment proceedings,” Bicudo said in his petition. He also argued that the country has plunged into a “deep crisis, although the federal government insists that it is merely economic, when in fact it is a political and, above all, a moral crisis.”

According to Bicudo, despite analysts warning that the country has been eroded at the impending impeachment, “the greed for power that moves the group of the accused, which becomes clearer every day, certainly proves all the more corrosive.”

“We urge the Chamber of Deputies to put an end to this situation by accepting the charges against the President of the Republic for her wrongdoing and referring the case for trial by the Senate to ultimately remove her from office and hold her ineligible for a period of eight years,” the lawyer said in his request.

Former House Speaker Arlindo Chinaglia, a PT member, said that while he respects former Deputy Hélio Bicudo, “there are no substantiating facts to initiate an impeachment.” According to him, “people can be angry, dissatisfied, and critical. That's all what democracy is about. But there are no particular elements, in the opinion of highly qualified jurists and my own, that give grounds to the request.” Chinaglia quoted Prosecutor-General Rodrigo Janot as saying that “the successful candidates in an election must take on the burden and the glory of holding office, and the defeated candidates must resign themselves to wait for the next election.”

According to Chinaglia, Hélio Bicudo has the right to press the case for impeachment, adding he “is certainly not frivolous in doing so as others might have been, and this is not the only such request to have been filed.” Chinaglia also said that he “assumes there are no substantiating facts in the case” for impeachment, based on what former Supreme Court justices and the Prosecutor-General himself have said.

Contacted by Agência Brasil, a spokesperson said the Presidency declines to comment.

So far, 21 complaints have been filed for impeaching President Dilma Rousseff. Out of these, nine were shelved by the current speaker at the Chamber of Deputies, Eduardo Cunha—four in February and five recently. Twelve other cases, including Hélio Bicudo's, are currently under consideration.

*With additional reporting by Iolando Lourenço

Translated by Mayra Borges