MOSCOW (Sputnik) — In May, Brazilian senate voted to open impeachment proceedings against Rousseff after she was accused of concealing the budget deficit ahead of the 2014 re-election. Rouseff was suspended from office for 180 days, pending the trial, while she denied any wrongdoing, and pledged to complete her presidential term, which ends on December 31, 2018, by any legal means available.
"[Rousseff] will be away because of the very serious crimes she committed," Senator Cassio Cunha Lima from the Brazilian Social-Democracy Party (PSDB) said, as quoted by the Agencia Senado. He added that Brazil "longed and prayed for it… to put an end to this long process."
The committee's vote clears the way for the initiative to the Senate itself, which is due to decide on it within weeks.