Impeachment trial for suspended Brazil president to start soon

The vote in favour of trying Rousseff - the South American nation's first female president - was 59 in favour, with 21 against.

　

The Senate suspended Rousseff on May 12 this year, over accusations of illegal accounting practices and fiddling the budget to mask a slumping economy.

　

Rousseff, 68, has likened the impeachment drive to a putsch (coup) by her political enemies.

　

The impeachment trial is set to open around August 25 - just four days after the Olympics closing ceremony - and is expected to last five days, concluding with a judgment vote.

　

At the start of the marathon Senate session yesterday, Supreme Court President Ricardo Lewandowski reminded senators that they were about to "exercise one of the most serious tasks under the constitution."

　

Rousseff's opponents had no trouble attaining a simple majority of the 81 Senate votes to begin steps to end her scandal-plagued presidency.

　

Senator Aecio Neves, one of Rousseff's most fervent opponents rivals said: "What we are talking about today is defending the constitution and democracy itself. Those who commit crimes must be held responsible for them.

　

"The conditions are firmly in place for removing Dilma Rousseff," he said.

　

About 250 of Rousseff's supporters demonstrated in central Sao Paulo, while in the Senate chamber in Brasilia her allies defended her.

　

Impeachment would not only seal Rousseff's political fate, but would bring an end to 13 years of leftist rule in Brazil.

　

Since Rousseff's suspension, her deeply unpopular vice president Michel Temer has served as Brazil's interim leader, as the nation struggles to emerge from its worst recession in decades.

　

Rousseff, was jailed and tortured by the country's military regime in the 1970s when she belonged to an urban guerrilla group.

　

She late rode Lula's coattails to power when term limits forced him to step down in 2011.

　

Brazil's booming economy later sank into its worst recession in 80 years, and a huge corruption scandal erupted at state oil giant Petrobras.

　

If she is removed from office, Temer, her center-right running mate-turned-opponent, will become the full-fledged president until the next elections in 2018.

　

He has urged the Senate to move quickly, saying "people need to know who the president is."