Lawyer rebuts impeachment-as-coup views
"I think we are the ones a coup is being launched against,” said lawyer Janaína Paschoal
Lawyer Janaína Paschoal, one of the petitioners in the impeachment case against President Dilma Rousseff, has rebutted Rousseff's repeated allegations that the impeachment bid is a coup in the making. According to Paschoal's statements, heard by the Special Committee on Impeachment of the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday (Mar. 30), the impeachment bid is a very strong case with firm grounds.
“I have seen posters with messages that impeachment without a violation is a coup. Well, while it is accurate to say that, we are in a situation where violations abound. I think we are the ones a coup is being launched against,” the lawyer said. According to her, if the petition against Rousseff were to be split into three parts, each of them would already make a case for impeachment. “And when you look at the three of them together it becomes clear that there is a coup against the population,” she maintained.
Talking about additional budget appropriations sought by the government last year, Paschoal criticized Rousseff's fiscal management. “Their reported surplus was completely fictitious, and even though [government members] were aware of that, they still provided for billion-scale appropriations without Congress approval and they knew they could not afford it,” she charged.
Amid mixed reactions of support and criticism, the lawyer concluded by appealing to the deputies to reconsider “the important role of Congress. We are purging this country. People are taking to the streets saying calling for a response—more than removing the president, they want to remove all the evil from politics,” she said.
The impeachment petition against Rousseff was accepted by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Eduardo Cunha, on December 2. In their petition, Paschoal and two legal scholars, Hélio Bicudo and Miguel Reale Jr., called for Rousseff's removal on charges of noncompliant accounting practices in 2014 identified by the Federal Court of Audits (TCU).
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Lawyer rebuts impeachment-as-coup views
