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Supporters of Brazil's Rousseff insist she broke no laws.

Rousseff defense begins in impeachment trial

Brasília (AFP) - The final witnesses in the defense of suspended Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff have testified in her senate impeachment trial, days before a vote that could permanently remove her from power.

Rousseff, 68, is accused of taking illegal state loans to help bridge budget shortfalls and mask the true state of the economy during her 2014 reelection campaign.

The one-time Marxist guerrilla, who was imprisoned and tortured under Brazil's military dictatorship in the 1970s, says the charges against her are trumped up and amount to a right-wing coup.

Testifying late Saturday on the third day of the impeachment trial were former economy minister Nelson Barbosa and Rio State University law professor Ricardo Lodi.

Both testified that Rousseff -- suspended from office in May -- did not break the law or harm the economy, which is now in deep recession.

"There is no basis to say that the president is criminally responsible," Barbosa said.

He insisted that decrees that Rousseff issued at the time were fully constitutional.

"There is nothing remotely illegal," Barbosa said. "You cannot act retroactively with a new interpretation of the law."

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