PUBLIC PROSECUTORS’ OFFICE
Article 185
(Institutional autonomy)
1. The Public Prosecutor’s Office shall be the essential body of the Attorney
General’s Office in terms of the judicial function of the state and shall enjoy
autonomy and its own status.
2. The autonomy of the Prosecutor’s Office shall be characterised by the fact
that it is bound by the criteria of legality and objectivity.
3. The judges of the Public Prosecutor’s Office shall be accountable and shall
form part of, and be subject to, a hierarchy, under the terms of the law.
Article 186
(Responsibilities)
The Public Prosecutor’s Office shall be responsible for representing the state,
defending democratic legality and the interests defined by law, promoting the penal
procedure and conducting penal actions, under the terms of the law, specifically:
a) Representing the state before the courts;
b) Providing legal counsel for those who are incapacitated or absent and for
minors;
c) Promoting the penal procedure and conducting penal actions;
d) Defender collective and various interests;
e) Promoting the execution of judicial rulings;
f) Directing the preparatory phase of penal procedures, without prejudice to
the overseeing of fundamental guarantees for citizens by judges, under the
terms of the law.
Article 187
(Status)
1. The requirements and rules for entry and promotion within the career
structure for public prosecutors shall be based on curricula, professional
merits and length of service, under the terms of the law.
2. Access to High Court positions shall be predominantly on the basis of merit
determined by the competitive submission of curricula, open to judges and
public prosecutors and other jurists of merit, under the terms decided by law.
3. Public prosecutors may not be transferred, suspended, retired or removed
from office except in the cases prescribed in their statutes.
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