RIO DE JANEIRO, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's top football official has been ordered to explain his alleged links with the country's former military regime to a congressional hearing.
Jose Maria Marin, the president of Brazil's Football Confederation (CBF), was summoned Wednesday to appear before the Federal Sports and Tourism Commission. A date for the hearing is yet to be determined.
The motion was initiated by federal deputy Rubens Bueno of Brazil's Popular Socialist Party (PPS) following pressure from fellow federal deputy and former football idol Romario.
National Truth Commission coordinator Paulo Sergio Pinheiro and National Human Rights Commission chairman Wadih Nemer Damous Filho will also be heard.
"Nobody is prejudging anybody, however we need to clarify this case which could stain Brazil's image on the eve of the World Cup," Bueno said.
Romario, a member of the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), last month led a petition calling for Marin's removal.
The 1994 World Cup winner has been joined in the campaign by Ivo Herzog, the son of Vladimir Herzog, a journalist who was tortured and assassinated in 1975 by agents belonging to Brazil's military dictatorship.
The petition claims Marin, a Sao Paulo state deputy at the time, was involved in Herzog's imprisonment.
Marin, 83, has repeatedly denied the claims.
Earlier this week he filed a Supreme Court lawsuit accusing Romario of libel and slander over comments made to Brazil's media.?