Brasília, August 12, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Today, the National Association of Federal Attorneys (ANPR) launched the campaign "ANPR against Impunity," in order to raise Brazilians' awareness of the ways to combat crime and dishonesty and enhance the role of society as a monitor. To this end, a series of activities will be promoted over the course of a year, the duration of the campaign, with debates and seminars involving the participation of various segments of society.

Another focus of the campaign is to make possible the formulation of bills by popular initiative to change penal, penal procedure, and electoral laws. One of the proposals is to determine a time limit for judging cases involving the impugnation of electoral mandates. Current legislation is silent on this detail. The president of the ANPR, Nicolao Dino, recalled that, because of this loophole, many officeholders remain in their posts, awaiting judgement, until the end of their mandates, even though their mandates are under question, judicially, from the day they take office. (DAS)