Attorney General and associations address the needs of the career in light of the reform that will give the Prosecutor’s Office the investigation of criminal cases
MADRID, 10 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The tax associations have begun to study with the State Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz, a reform of the Organic Statute of the Prosecutor’s Office (EOMF) in view of a future Criminal Procedure Law (LeCrim) that leaves investigations in the hands of prosecutors. penalties. After a first contact, they have agreed to meet again on May 7.
The Association of Prosecutors (AF), the Progressive Union of Prosecutors (UPF) and the Professional and Independent Association of Prosecutors (APIF) have sat at the table with the head of the Public Ministry after last week he called them to a meeting. meeting to create a working group to develop the Organic Statute of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (EOMF) in the face of a new LeCrim.
Sources familiar with the meeting have told Europa Press that the meeting has mostly focused on studying how a study commission can be created to modify the Statute, based on previous studies that already existed in this regard in the tax career, such as the one promoted by former State Attorney General Eduardo Torres Dulce.
However, consulted sources have indicated that the AF – the majority association of the prosecutor’s career – have insisted on the need to protect the independence of the institution; not only of the attorney general, but also of the prosecutors themselves with a transparent system for adjudicating matters and with transparency in the Government’s communication.
This is a proposal that the AF has defended on several occasions and that last week it was conveyed to the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, Félix Bolaños, in a meeting regarding the new LeCrim.
The APIF has also repeatedly been in favor of protecting the independence of prosecutors and has proposed a reform of the Statute so that the disciplinary responsibility of prosecutors ends with the attorney general and not with the Ministry of Justice.
According to the sources consulted, within the framework of the meeting, the attorney general has proposed a work methodology and a calendar so that the associations, protected by the Attorney General’s Office, begin the work of drafting the new Statute.
Tax sources have stressed that García Ortiz thus intends for “all prosecutors” to participate in the reform, understanding that “only from a deep knowledge of the tax career and its structures can proposals be made to the legislator with guarantees for a new Organic Statute that respond to the future LeCrim”.
The meeting between García Ortiz and the associations takes place after the Ministry of Justice has announced its intention to recover the project for a new LeCrim in 2024. According to the tax sources consulted by this news agency, the Attorney General’s Office understands that “this new law must necessarily be accompanied” by a new Statute of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which has prompted the attorney general to convene the AF, the UPF, and the APIF.
At the press conference after the Council of Ministers on March 26, the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts, Félix Bolaños, noted that the Executive’s objective was to “adapt the rules of criminal prosecution to the 21st century.”
“We cannot be fighting and judging crimes from the 21st century with a procedural standard from the 19th century. And, therefore, I believe that it is essential that we be able to promote and approve a Criminal Procedure Law,” said the minister.
Asked if the reform contemplates shortening the instruction periods as the Government offered to Junts in February within the framework of the amnesty law negotiations, Bolaños stressed that the text was in a “very initial” phase.
“Once we know what the opinion of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) is, we will analyze the rule again and make decisions on different issues such as the one you raise,” he said.
The minister insisted that the text was still “in a very initial phase of work” because the CGPJ is still waiting to present its perceptive report, which – as he recalled – has been pending for three years “when the legal deadline is one month.” .
According to CGPJ sources consulted by Europa Press, in mid-March the Ministry of Justice sent the body a letter urging it to deliver the report. The same sources pointed out that it was “unfeasible” for the Council to present its conclusions within a week, but they advised that they were working on the text.
The great novelty that the draft of the LeCrim proposes is that it moves from the investigating judge to the investigating prosecutor and the prosecutors will be the ones who direct the investigation when the reform comes into force. Of course, with the specific intervention of a guarantee judge to authorize measures that affect fundamental rights.
