Prosecution presents case against Rousseff

The lead prosecutor in the trial to oust Brazil’s first female president said Tuesday that Dilma Rousseff had committed “fraud” in her accounting practices, then came to tears saying she hopes the leader forgives her for causing her to suffer.

Speaking on the fifth day of a trial to decide Rousseff’s fate, Janaina Paschoal said the leader had broken fiscal responsibility laws in managing the federal budget. “We are not dealing with a little accounting problem, we are dealing with fraud,” she said.

“It wasn’t just that a president lied,” said Paschoal. “The fraud was spoken and the fraud was documented.”

Wrapping up her presentation minutes later, Paschoal came to tears when she said she hoped Rousseff would be forgiving for “having caused her to suffer.”

The dramatic presentation came in the final phase of a political fight that has consumed Latin America’s largest nation since an impeachment measure was introduced in the lower Chamber of Deputies late last year.

After the prosecution and defence present their final arguments, the Senate was to vote whether to permanently remove Rousseff from office.

Opposition senators accuse Rousseff using illegal means to hide holes in the federal budget, saying that exacerbated a recession, high inflation and layoffs.

Rousseff, a former guerrilla fighter who was tortured and imprisoned during the country’s dictatorship, calls that nonsense.