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August 30, 2016

Brazil: President Dilma Rousseff Takes Stand at Impeachment Trial
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In Brazil, suspended President Dilma Rousseff took the stand Monday and
denounced her impeachment trial as a coup.

President Dilma Rousseff: "Without an impeachable crime, any impeachment
carried out by Brazilian lawmakers is a clear attack on the
Constitution, because the Constitution clearly sets out the necessity
for impeachment processes on the basis of a crime. An impeachment
process which commits the violent act of removing an innocent president
is a coup d'état."

During her testimony, Rousseff also compared the impeachment proceedings
to Brazil's dictatorship-era military tribunals that sentenced her to
prison for her activism against the regime. She was tortured while
imprisoned. Despite her impassioned testimony, Brazil's Senate is
expected to vote to remove Rousseff as early as Wednesday.


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