Brazil's suspended President Dilma Rousseff has defended her record during a marathon session during her impeachment trial in the Senate.
She is accused of illegally manipulating the budget to hide a growing deficit.
Ms Rousseff said she was the victim of a political coup d'etat led by those she defeated at the polls in 2014.
Senators are due to vote later this week on whether to reinstate her or remove her from office for good.
Ms Rousseff said she had a clean conscience.
"I did not commit the crimes that I am arbitrarily and unjustly accused of," she said, adding: "We are one step away from a real coup d'etat."
After her opening statement, she was cross-examined by dozens of senators, in a session that continued into the night.
One of Ms Rousseff's fiercest opponents, former presidential candidate Aecio Neves, told her that her electoral victory did not give her the right to break the law.
"From the day after I was elected, several measures were taken to destabilise my government. And you have been systematically making accusations against me", she replied.
Ms Rousseff is accused of moving funds between government budgets, which is illegal under Brazilian law.
Her critics say she was trying to plug deficits in social programmes to boost her chances of being re-elected in October 2014.
'Fighting on'
Ms Rousseff began her defence by reminding senators that she had been re-elected by more than 54 million voters and she had always upheld the Constitution.
She also reminded senators of her past as an opponent to military rule.
Her fight, she said, had been for a more equal society and that the achievements of her government in that field were now "at risk".
Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva watched on as Ms Rousseff spoke
She also warned of the dangers she said the interim government of acting President Michel Temer posed.
Ms Rousseff said his administration would limit public spending and act in the interest of a small economic elite.
"The future of Brazil is at stake," she said.
Ms Rousseff said the government of Michel Temer was planning to reverse important achievements by her administration
She ended her defence by again talking about her time in captivity, briefly choking with emotion when she mentioned the torture she had endured "for days on end".
She thanked those senators who had fought for her to be cleared of the charges before asking those who were opposed to her to "vote against the impeachment, vote for democracy!".
Senators from her Workers' Party stood up and applauded once she had finished, while her opponents sat in their seats stony-faced.
For her to be removed from the presidency permanently, 54 of the 81 senators would have to vote for her impeachment.
Brazilian daily Folha de Sao Paulo says it has spoken to all the senators ahead of the vote and that 52 have so far declared themselves in favour of the impeachment.
Supporters of Ms Rousseff gathered outside the Congress building during the session
Eighteen told the newspaper they were opposed to the impeachment and 11 either did not say which way they would vote or were undecided.
If Ms Rousseff, 68, is impeached, acting President Michel Temer will serve out her term, which ends in December 2018.
Mr Temer, who was Ms Rousseff's vice-president, assumed the role of acting president in May when Ms Rousseff was suspended from office pending the impeachment trial.
Brazilian media focuses on 'coup' line
Brazilian newspapers focused mainly on Ms Rousseff's allegation that she is the victim of an attempted coup
Many of Brazil's news media set up live pages online to allow their readers to follow Monday's impeachment proceedings in the Senate.
Newspapers O Estado de Sao Paulo and O Globo, and news magazines Carta Capital and Veja, all highlighted the same line from Ms Rousseff's address in which she warned that Brazil "was one step away from a coup".
Folha de Sao Paulo on the other hand picked out Ms Rousseff's final appeal to Senators: "I ask you to vote against the impeachment and for democracy".
Many Brazilian papers also quoted Ms Rousseff's line that those backing her impeachment were putting Brazil's democracy at risk through "moral violence and [by using a] constitutional pretext".
BBC readers' views:
Lucas Catta Preta: Although I personally think that Ms Rousseff has been a bad president, I partially agree when she says a coup is under way because the reasons used in the trial aren't strong enough to remover her.
Juliana Costs: She was by far the most ethical president we ever had. She created two laws to arrest and make corrupted people returned their stolen money. She is a fighter; she has no bank account abroad; she keeps her life style simple. Different from all those dishonest politicians who had been there for decades. It is a very sad for democracy.
Alexander Moskovits: I am a native Brazilian citizen who returned to Brazil after living in the United States for close to 30 years. Dilma is the tip of the iceberg that is presently melting under the fire of unprecedented law enforcement scrutiny in a nation where impunity has always been the norm.
Nicholas Zimmer: However unpopular Dilma might have become, she didn't commit a crime. This is obviously a conspiracy led by multiple interests whose goal is, ultimately, shut the population up. This is a coup. No doubt.
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