Ethics Committee decides to expel Demosthenes
By unanimous vote, the Senate Ethics Committee approved on Monday evening, the 25th, the report by Senator Humberto Costa (PT-PE) requesting the removal from office of Senator Demóstenes Torres.
Agency Brazil - By unanimous vote, the Senate Ethics Council approved tonight (25) the report by Senator Humberto Costa (PT-PE) which calls for the removal from office of Senator Demóstenes Torres (no party-GO). The vote was nominal and by open ballot. The report received the approval of the 15 senators who are members of the council.
The opinion will now be forwarded to the Senate's Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) for analysis of constitutional aspects. Before voting, however, the CCJ will have to wait an interval equivalent to five ordinary Senate sessions, which means that Demóstenes' political trial will only take place next week.
After passing through the CCJ (Committee on Constitution, Justice and Citizenship), the council's position goes to the Plenary, which will have to decide, in a secret vote, on the loss of the senator's mandate.
Defender
The Senate Ethics Committee meeting began around 18:40 PM. It started with another appeal from the senator's lawyer, Antonio Carlos de Almeida, the famous Kakay, for time for the defense. Quoting Father Antonio Vieira, Kakay said that "it is natural that no one can be judged without being given time to defend themselves." The lawyer said that the senator's defense was "perplexed" by the speed of the process.
"This trial is political. The decision in this trial is political. Your excellencies don't even have to justify your vote," Kakay reminded them, arguing that postponing the decision by even 20 days wouldn't make a difference. The lawyer also recalled the defense's theory that the evidence from Operation Monte Carlo shouldn't be valid for judging Senator Demóstenes Torres, since the investigation wasn't endorsed by the Supreme Federal Court.
"The process is not political. We must follow the Constitution, the regulations, the resolution. When the defense objected in that first moment, three or four times, the defense understood that it could have knocked on the doors of the Supreme Court (to request the postponement of the trial)," said Kakay, adding that it was Demóstenes who asked the lawyers not to do so. The lawyer also highlighted the "honor it is to defend him," referring to the senator. After Kakay's defense, the case's rapporteur, Senator Humberto Costa (PT-PE), began reading his report, a 69-page document that suggested the revocation of the parliamentarian's mandate.