Brazil Federal Prosecutor Roberto Gurgel Challenges Constitutionality Of World Cup Law

Brazil federal prosecutor Roberto Gurgel "has challenged the constitutionality of the so-called World Cup law which was signed last year by Brazil President Dilma Rousseff," according to the AP. The law gives FIFA "the guarantees it says it needs to organize the 2014 World Cup." Gurgel "has questioned four articles of the World Cup law." In his filing, Gurgel contends that "the law violates citizens' constitutional guarantee to equal treatment, as well as provisions of Brazilian tax law." Put in place last year, "the legislation was delayed several times in heated debates in Brazil's Congress," where critics argued the national government was giving FIFA too much power. Local organizing committee spokeperson Saint-Clair Milesi said there would be "no comment on an on-going process." The prosecutor's office "confirmed the challenge on Wednesday" (AP, 7/12).