Brazilian senator backs Dilma Rousseff's impeachment trial

Adding to Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's already existing woes, a senator from the opposition has recommended that she face the impeachment trial. Besides, the chief prosecutor general has reportedly requested the Supreme Court to investigate former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Rousseff for obstruction of justice.

On 11 May, Brazil's senate will vote to determine if the president can be tried for impeachment. If the senate votes yes, she will automatically be suspended during the trial that could last for 180 days.

According to Brazilian media reports, the prosecutor general, Rodrigo Janot, has allegedly requested the Supreme court to investigate Lula and Rousseff for obstruction of justice in the Petrobras case, which is headed by judge Sergio Moro.

This allegation is based on the president's move in March to try to add Lula to her cabinet. The prosecutor general in the leaked request has named 31 politicians, including some from the opposition, highlighting how corruption has spread across the political class of Brazil. The inclusion of Rousseff in this comes as a surprise as she has not been implicated for a crime so far, according to AFP.

Judge Moro accused her of obtaining ministerial immunity for the former president to help him dodge the existing corruption charges, which were also linked to the Petrobras scam. Rousseff has, meanwhile, denied the charges.

On 4 May, Antonio Anastasia, a senator in the opposition, said Rousseff should face the impeachment process. He added that the charges are serious enough for her to be removed from presidency. "We are looking at a complaint centered on evidence of irregularities that can put fiscal responsibility at risk," the senator, a member of the Brazilian Social Democratic party, said.

Michael Temer, Rousseff's vice president who has now turned enemy, is the biggest beneficiary of the chaos that is unsettling the worker's party. He could be the acting president of Brazil by next week and has been busy with negotiations to appoint new ministers and ways to tackle Brazil's recession, AFP reported.