Impeachment of Wilson Witzel

The impeachment of Wilson Witzel, the 63rd Governor of Rio de Janeiro, occurred on 10 June 2020, when a petition for his impeachment was accepted by André Ceciliano, President of the Legislative Assembly after a symbolic voting in the virtual floor of the house. State Deputies Lúcia Helena and Luiz Paulo Correa filed a petition accusing governor Witzel of the following crimes: acquisition of overpriced respirators; suspect bidding for the construction of temporary hospitals; linking with the arrested entrepreneur Mário Peixoto; rejection of the 2019 budget by the state Court of Accounts. Once approved, the process moves to a special committee, where each one of the 29 parties in the Assembly choose representatives to make an impeachment committee. The report, authorizing the impeachment process, was approved by the special committee on 17 September. If the state assembly passes the request (36 of the 70 deputies must approve), the governor is suspended from his duties (besides his suspension from 28 August-30 April, which was authorized by the Superior Court of Justice on 28 August) and Witzel's trial began through a mixed court. On 30 April 2021, by a vote of 10-0, Witzel was convicted and removed from office, his political rights suspended for five years, with Cláudio Castro becoming the 64th governor of Rio de Janeiro.

Impeachment of Wilson Witzel
Witzel wearing the gubernatorial sash
AccusedWilson Witzel, Governor of Rio de Janeiro
Proponents
  • Lúcia Helena,
    State Deputy (PSDB)
  • Luiz Paulo Correa,
    State Deputy (PSDB)
Date10 June 2020 – 30 April 2021
(10 months, 2 weeks and 6 days)
OutcomeConvicted by the Mixed Court, removed from office
ChargesBidding fraud in the acquisition of respirators and construction of provisory hospitals
CauseCOVID-19 pandemic in Brazil
Votes
Voting in the Legislative Assembly
AccusationVote to open impeachment process
Votes in favor69
Votes against0
Not voting1
ResultApproved
AccusationVote to proceed with impeachment process
Votes in favor69
Votes against0
Not voting1
ResultApproved; sent to Mixed Court
Voting in the Mixed Court
AccusationVote to begin trial
Votes in favor10
Votes against0
ResultWitzel suspended from office; Cláudio Castro becomes Acting Governor
AccusationVote to remove Witzel from office
Votes in favor10 "guilty"
Votes against0 "not guilty"
ResultConvicted; Cláudio Castro becomes Governor; Witzel has political rights suspended for 5 years
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.