International

Bid to stop Rousseff’s impeach thrown out by Brazilian court

Published

8 years ago

April 15, 2016

Bid to stop Rousseff's impeach thrown out by Brazilian court

A court in Brazil has thrown out a bid to stop the impeachment process of embattled Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

The denial by the majority of Brazil’s Supreme Court now paves the way for the lower house of Congress to show their hand by voting on sending Rousseff on trial in Senate.

A last-ditch attempt by Rousseff to halt an impeachment process against her in advance of a vote in Congress was halted by a number of justices after they denied a request on Thursday for an injunction against proceedings that Brazil’s attorney general – the government lawyer – called “Kafkaesque” and said amounted to denying Rousseff the opportunity to defend herself.

Lucia Newman, Al Jazeera’s Latin America editor, said: “The top court decided in a split vote. Two judges agreed with the attorney general that the president had been denied due process.

“Now nothing can stop the impeachment vote from taking place. In a few hours, the lower house will begin debating charges against the president. The debate will go on for at least 48 hours. The voting will start on Sunday afternoon. That’s prime time in Brazil.”

The impeachment move could push Brazil from political paralysis into a chaotic power vacuum by ending the 13-year rule of Rousseff’s Workers’ Party.

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