At the beginning of October 2015, HuffPost Brazil positioned itself in favor of Eduardo Cunha's (BDMP-RJ) departure from the lower house of Congress's leadership position.
At the time we highlighted the clear ethical conflict of the BDMP-member being in command of the House, which was investigating the Petrobras corruption scandal (known as Operation Car Wash), in which he himself was allegedly involved.
Cunha's violation of basic parliamentary decorum was on display when he lied to Investigative Committee focusing on Petrobras at the Chamber of Deputies in March of last year. By that time, he had denied having possessions outside of Brazil or in fiscal paradises. Seven months later, the Federal Public Ministry revealed that the Swiss authorities had discovered $5 million belonging to Cunha, which he'd stashed in secret accounts.
The investigation into Cunha's conduct has already taken over 184 days -- an unusually long period of time for this type of investigation. It is believed that, since Cunha has control over the majority of deputies, he has been obstructing the process at Lower House.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court finally ruled on the prosecutor's request, and decided to remove Cunha from the Lower House.
Cunha's prolonged stay in this position of power became even more unbelievable in March of this year after the Supreme Federal Court accepted corruption charges that the politician had received $5 million as a kickback for helping install two Petrobras drilling vessels in 2006 and 2007.
The attention seeker quickly turned into a criminal defendant, as he began to answer criminal accusations for corruption and money laundering. At this point Cunha also earned the distinction as the only defendant in Operation Car Wash investigations currently before the Supreme Court.
Despite all this, he continued to give orders to the 512 deputies underneath him, and advance efforts to impeach President Dilma Rousseff.
The Republic's Prosecutor General, Rodrigo Janot, became one of Cunha's potential executioners and, even at the end of 2015, presented a request to the Supreme Court for Cunha's removal from his position of power.
The argument at the time was obvious: Cunha was using his position to avoid being investigated.
On the Internet most Brazilians celebrated the decision.
Finally the time has come. On Thursday, the Supreme Court finally ruled on the prosecutor's request, and decided to remove Cunha from the Lower House.
In his decision, Judge Teori Zavascki argued that Eduardo Cunha's ability to continue to work in the Lower House conspired "against the dignity of the institution he leads."
Eleven judges voted for Cunha's removal. While Cunha's lawyers can appeal, the chances of a different result are quite low.
On the Internet most Brazilians celebrated the decision. Rejected by more than 75 percent of the population, Cunha was eerily close to the presidency. In fact, if Dilma's impeachment is accepted, as is expected, next week by the Senate, Michel Temer will become Brazil's interim president for 180 days. Cunha was second in line to Temer. Which means that if something were to happen to Temer, Cunha would have assumed the presidency.
Thursday's ruling meant Brazil was able to avoid the bizarre and unlikely political circumstance in which Brazil's president doubled as a criminal defendant before the Supreme Court.
Further, the Supreme Court's ruling is an answer to the overwhelming majority of Brazilians who favor Cunha's removal and can no longer tolerate anymore of his political maneuvering in order to preserve his position in the Lower House.
Today's decision has both legal and moral implications. After all, the most important court in the country has finally imposed the first and foremost defeat of one of the icons of Brazil's current ethical and political disaster.
Cunha, you didn't want to leave, but you no longer have a choice.
Ciao, darling!
This post first appeared on HuffPost Brazil. It has been translated into English and edited for clarity.