Public Ministry (Portugal)
| Ministério Público | |
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| Body of magistrates overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1832 |
| Jurisdiction | Portugal |
| Headquarters | Lisbon |
| Body of magistrates executive |
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| Website | en |
The Public Prosecution Service (Portuguese: Ministério Público) or MP is the body of the Judiciary of Portugal responsible for the public prosecution and the representation of the State before the courts. It is an hierarchic organized body, composed of magistrates and headed by the Procurador-Geral da República (attorney-general of the Republic).
Although having the word "ministry" in its name, the MP is not a ministry in the sense of government department.
Among others, the Portuguese Constitution and the common law give the following roles to the Public Prosecution Service:
The superior body of the Public Prosecution Service is the Procuradoria-Geral da República (attorney-general's office), presided by the Procurador-Geral da República (PGR).
The PGR is the only magistrate of the Public Prosecution Service that is politically designated, being proposed by the Government and appointed by the President of the Republic for six years in office. The PGR is also the only magistrate of the Public Prosecution Service that can be chosen from among persons that previously were not magistrates, the person chosen not even being mandatory linked to any area of recruitment or having a specific training. However, in practice, most of the persons appointed for the office of PGR came from the career magistracy.
Under the Procuradoria-Geral da Reública there are also four procuradorias-gerais distritais (district attorneys-general's offices) and 23 procuradorias da República (attorney's offices). The first ones represent the Public Prosecution Service in the courts of second instance and the last ones in the courts of first instance.
For the role of directing the criminal investigation, each of the Public Prosecution Service offices includes a department of investigation and prosecution, composed of attorneys specially dedicated to the investigation of the most serious crimes. For the criminal investigation, the Public Prosecution Service also controls the activity of the Judiciary Police.
The attorneys of the Public Prosecution Service are magistrates as the judges, but constitute a parallel and independent body from the Portuguese Judicial Magistracy.
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Wikipedia