Impeachment is closer. Aras gives a favorable opinion to the Rio de Janeiro State Legislative Assembly

The Attorney General of the Republic, Augusto Aras, gave a favorable opinion to the work of the Legislative Assembly of Rio (Alerj) in the analysis of the impeachment process of the governor of Rio, Wilson Witzel (PSC), by considering Witzel's complaint against the formation of the special commission to be unfounded.

The PGR's position makes the governor's situation increasingly difficult and may have a decisive influence on Minister Alexandre de Moraes' decision, who will decide whether the impeachment process will continue with the current investigating committee or whether it will have to go back to square one with a new committee maintaining the proportionality of the benches, as required by the injunction issued by the president of the STF, Dias Tofolli.

Aras's opinion was completed this Thursday and will have a decisive impact on the outcome of the evaluation of the governor's impeachment, as lawmakers were awaiting the Attorney General's position before deciding whether to continue with the work already done or to form a new committee. The decision, however, will be made by Justice Alexandre Moraes, the rapporteur on the case.

According to Aras, in the opinion regarding the ongoing complaint before the Supreme Federal Court (STF), the Constitution and the rules of the Rio de Janeiro State Legislative Assembly (Alerj) were respected, without violating any existing Supreme Court precedent. The 1950 impeachment law, which defines crimes of responsibility and establishes how the impeachment process should operate, does not require the legislature to determine the need for a vote to select the members of the special committee, according to the attorney general's argument.
"It would be unreasonable to subject the choice of a party's elected member to further scrutiny by the plenary, allowing other parties to influence, through elections, the selection of each party's members on the committee," Aras said. The Attorney General's Office also found no violation of the proportionality rule in the committee's composition.

The Chamber of Deputies and Senate committees, according to the Constitution, already ensure a proportion "as far as possible." "This proportionality must be graduated, as per constitutional dictate, as far as possible, observing the maximum effectiveness of the constitutional mandate and, therefore, aiming for the effective participation of parliamentary minorities."

Requiring an "ideal" proportional composition would lead to an "excessive number" of members on the special committee, according to Aras, exceeding half of the Assembly, which is "unreasonable," according to the attorney general. Therefore, the Attorney General's Office ruled that Witzel's request should be dismissed.

Attorney Manoel Peixinho said that Governor Wilson Witzel's defense team will not comment on Attorney General Augustos Aras's ruling, which validated the composition of the Alerj (State Legislative Assembly)'s prosecution. According to Peixinho, the defense will only announce its proposed measures after Justice Alexandre de Moraes's decision.