Brazil’s Rousseff pleads innocent, calls Senate trial coup
Suspended Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff has denied all corruption charges against her, calling her impeachment trial a coup.
Rousseff made the remarks before the Senate on Monday, saying the allegations against her have no merit and that her removal from power will not be justified.
"I know I will be judged, but my conscience is clear. I did not commit a crime... I did not commit the crimes for which I have been accused unjustly and arbitrarily," she said.
Rousseff described the accusations as "a pretext for a constitutional coup," and told Brazilian lawmakers that she had followed the constitution and done what was best for the country.
"The future of Brazil is at stake," the 68-year-old said, adding that Brazil’s democracy is being jeopardized to protect the interests of the country’s privileged classes and “the economic elite.”
The Brazilian Senate voted last week to hold an impeachment trial for Rousseff.
Rousseff’s allies believe she is being made a scapegoat by the country’s corrupt politicians implicated in a graft scheme at state oil company Petrobras.
They believe the impeachment of the leftist leader is a bid to muddy the waters and create confusion about the Petrobras scandal.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Rousseff’s supporters staged a rally outside the Senate building in the capital, Brasilia, on Monday to show solidarity with the suspended president.
A two-thirds majority of the Senate, or 54 votes, would be needed to see Rousseff permanently removed from office.
If the trial acquits Rousseff, she will be allowed to serve out her term until 2018. But if she is removed permanently, then interim president Michel Temer will become the full-fledged president until the next election in 2018.
G20 leaders call for ceasefires in Gaza, Lebanon as their support for Israel blasted
Brazilian journo fined, ordered to delete posts over criticizing Gaza onslaught
Putin: BRICS, not the West, will drive global economic prosperity
VIDEO | 'We will rebuild a thousand times’
Ex-Israeli war minister Gallant to head to US despite ICC arrest warrant
Iran’s foreign minister in Portugal to attend 10th UNAOC Global Forum
VIDEO | Israel puts Beirut under back-to-back assaults as Hezbollah says Netanyahu won’t succeed
A siege within siege: 130,000 children under 10 trapped in northern Gaza
Top general: Iran’s deterrent power evolved to address modern maritime threats
Israeli forces kill two young Palestinians in occupied West Bank raid
Hezbollah breaks record of anti-Israel ops; four million settlers run for their lives
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
