Impeachment committee hears prosecution witnesses.
The prosecutor from the Public Prosecutor's Office at the TCU (Federal Court of Accounts), Júlio Marcelo de Oliveira, and the TCU auditor Antonio Carlos Costa D'avila Carvalho will be heard this Wednesday; their names were indicated by the lawyers Janaína Paschoal, Hélio Bicudo, and Miguel Reale Júnior, responsible for the accusation; three witnesses indicated by senators who support the request will also be heard: Rogério Jesus Alves Oliveira, Adriano Pereira de Paula, and Otávio de Medeiros, from the National Treasury Secretariat.
Karine Melo - Reporter for Agência Brasil
The Senate Impeachment Committee begins today (8) to hear the prosecution witnesses in the process of removing President Dilma Rousseff. The prosecutor from the Public Ministry at the Federal Court of Accounts, Júlio Marcelo de Oliveira, and the TCU auditor Antonio Carlos Costa D'avila Carvalho will be heard. The names were indicated by the lawyers Janaína Paschoal, Hélio Bicudo and Miguel Reale Júnior - responsible for the prosecution.
Three witnesses nominated by senators who support the request will also be heard today: Rogério Jesus Alves Oliveira, Adriano Pereira de Paula, and Otávio de Medeiros, from the National Treasury Secretariat.
Rules
According to the rules for hearing witnesses published yesterday (7) by the committee, the questions will be asked in the following order: rapporteur, registered senators, accusers and, lastly, the defense. Already present at the committee are lawyer Janaína Paschoal, on behalf of the accusers, and José Eduardo Cardozo, responsible for Dilma's defense. Each questioner may question the witnesses for up to three minutes, on the subject for which they were summoned to testify. Today's guests will have up to two minutes to answer the questions.
According to the pre-defined rules, if necessary, a rebuttal will be allowed to request clarification of the answer given by the witness to the person who asked the question, who will have up to two minutes to do so, without the right to ask a new question. It has also been decided that there will be no registration for the floor to be used as a leader.
The rules were defined by the president and the rapporteur of the committee, but they must be submitted to all members of the committee.
Lewandowski
The decisions of the president of the Supreme Federal Court, Ricardo Lewandowski, are already in effect for today's meeting. Since the admissibility of the proceedings against the Workers' Party member was approved in the Senate on May 12, the minister has also presided over the commission's work in the House. Lewandowski also has the final say on points of order not yet settled in the impeachment commission.
Yesterday, the minister denied an appeal by Senator Aloysio Nunes Ferreira (PSDB-SP) to reduce the number of witnesses that the defense of suspended President Dilma Rousseff must present to the Senate Impeachment Committee. With the decision, each side will be entitled to up to 48 witnesses.
In his ruling, Lewandowski considered that the panel's decision respects the right to a full defense and is supported by Supreme Court decisions and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CPP).
Schedule
The hearings are scheduled to take place by June 17th, but the case's rapporteur, Senator Antonio Anastasia (PSDB-MG), has stated several times that this deadline could be extended if necessary.
The expectation is that the final Senate trial, which will decide whether Dilma Rousseff will definitively lose her position as President of the Republic, will take place sometime in August.