Rousseff's Lawyer: A Political Trial is a Coup d'Etat

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, via the government's lawyer Jose Eduardo Cardoso, presented her defense Monday to the lower house, warning lawmakers how such an unconstitutional procedure against her could seriously undermine Brazil's rule of law.

"Only in a very serious case can a president go through a political trial, potentially leading to removal, otherwise the possibility of a political trial does not exist in a presidential system," said Cardoso to the lawmakers, while people gathered in front of the Congress in support of Rousseff and democracy.

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He insisted that in the case of Rousseff, no serious crime justified an impeachment procedure, because the Constitution specified that only a serious attack on the Constitution could consist in the "crime of responsibility" required before launching a political trial.

However, the crimes Rousseff is accused of – extraordinary executive orders and loans contracted with the national bank in order to adjust the real budget with the estimated budget. Cardoso argued, that contingencies can occur after a first estimate of the annual budget, that can require adjustments later, but this will never consist in a serious breach of the Constitution.

Cardoso severely criticized what he suspected were the real political goals behind the procedure, as well as the inherent juridical flaws. He especially targeted the president of the lower house, Eduardo Cunha, who formally initiated the proceedings. He denounced the move as really a "retaliation" measure against the country's head of state and the Workers' Party. Cunha is named in the Panama Papers, a massive and historic leak of confidential documents that reveal how the rich and powerful from many countries around the globe use tax havens to hide their wealth.

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"A coup is technically a breach in the rule of law. There are no more military coups across the world, now a coup takes a juridical disguise, but it damages the country's rule of law. It will create a conflict that will not be solved, and a new government that has no legitimacy, derived from popular sovereignty.

Now the special commission will make a decision within five days, with a final vote planned on April 11. The impeachment procedure requires the approval of at least 342 lawmakers out of 513 in total – a difficult target to reach, according to lawmaker Henrique Barbosa from the governing Workers' Party.