Attorney-General requests Supreme Court to annul Rousseff's impeachment case

The Attorney-General's Office (AGU, in the original acronym) filed Thursday (Apr. 14) a suit for a writ of mandamus with the Supreme Court (STF) in a bid to strike down the impeachment proceedings against Dilma Rousseff being examined by the Chamber of Deputies. Next Sunday (Apr. 17), lawmakers are to vote on the report recommending the ouster of the president. The AGU is also filing a request on a preliminary basis to put the Sunday vote on hold until the inaccuracies in the proceedings are corrected. Justice Edson Fachin will be responsible for the appeal at the STF.

The AGU claims there are inaccuracies that violate the principles of the due legal process, and the right to adversarial proceedings and a fair hearing. In their view, the president's right to a defense was violated during the process. The office argues Deputy Jovair Arantes's report took into consideration allegations that cannot be found in the charges accepted by Lower House Speaker Eduardo Cunha.

Among the charges in the proceedings, Cardozo named issues related to Rousseff's previous term of office, as well as plea bargain statements made by Senator Delcídio do Amaral, arrested as part of Federal Police-launched Operation Car Wash. According to Cardozo, the charges accepted by Cunha mention nothing but the enactment of spending decrees and the delayed transfers of National Treasury funds so the public banks could grant social benefits—the so-called accounting tricks. Also, acting Attorney-General Fernando Luiz Albuquerque Faria was allegedly not allowed to speak during the session on the report from the impeachment committee.

On April 6, the sitting of the impeachment committee, called to read the Arantes's final report, AGU officials tried to raise an objection, but were prevented from doing so by Deputy Rogério Rosso, chair of the impeachment committee. On the occasion, Rosso said that the internal rules of the chamber of deputies only allows committee members to raise objection, and further stated that, in case supporters wished to raise an issue, they should do it through congresspeople.

In a note released on the same day, the Attorney-General's Office announced that acting Attorney-General Fernando Luiz Albuquerque Faria attended the committee session and that the rights denied him should be granted by his position, rights “to raise objection to any court or tribunal by early intervention, to resolve ambiguity or doubt arising, related to facts, documents or statements, in addition to claim, orally or in writing, before any court, tribunal or authority, against the violation of law, rules, or regulations, and to speak, sitting or standing, before a court, tribunal or any collective decision-making body of the government or of the legislative branch."

“The committee did not call the president's defense and did not allow the participation of acting Attorney-General Fernando Luiz Albuquerque Faria in a session to provide explanations,” As if that were not enough, the AGU says, the effective participation of the president's defenders was denied, “which culminated in the defense being rendered incapable of exerting influence on the debates, preventing it from showing, at the right time, the various errors being committed,” the document submitted by the AGU reads.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira

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