Ministry of Justice reacts to the manifesto with concern and points the finger at the PS – Politics

The Ministry of Justice said this Friday that it was “very concerned” about the situation in which the PS government left the area, highlighting the strikes in the sector, the lack of magistrates and judicial employees and the poor conditions of the courts.

In a comment sent to Lusa on the manifesto signed by 50 personalities from different sectors in defense of a “civic upheaval” that puts an end to the “worrying inertia” of political agents regarding justice reform, Rita Júdice’s ministry points the finger at the previous executive and says he is “working hard to try to solve these problems, from the first minute”.

“The Ministry of Justice is very concerned about the situation in which the previous government left the justice system. With the strikes that have lasted for 15 months. With the lack of magistrates. With the lack of bailiffs. With the courts where it rains”, refers to the comment.

In a brief portrait of the sector, the ministry also highlights the degradation of prisons and considers that there has been a “lack of investment” in Justice in the last eight years, with a negative impact “on all citizens and companies”.

A group of 50 personalities from different backgrounds made an appeal on Thursday to the President of the Republic, Government and parliament to take initiatives that, respecting the independence of the courts, the autonomy of the Public Ministry and the guarantees of judicial defense, are resolved the “bottlenecks and dysfunctions that have long undermined its effectiveness and public legitimacy”.

The petition is signed by, among others, the former presidents of parliament Augusto Santos Silva, Ferro Rodrigues and Mota Amaral, the former leaders of the PSD and CDS, Rui Rio and Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos, the former ministers Leonor Beleza, David Justino, Fernando Negrão, António Vitorino, José Vieira da Silva, António Barreto, Correia de Campos, Alberto Costa, Pinto Ribeiro, Maria de Lurdes Rodrigues and the former president of the Constitutional Court João Caupers.

Admiral Melo Gomes and General Pinto Ramalho, former governor of the Bank of Portugal Vitor Constâncio and judge-advisor Teresa Pizarro Beleza also signed the document, as did Isabel Soares, Manuel Sobrinho Simões, Álvaro Beleza and the social democrats Paulo Mota Pinto, André Coelho Lima and Pacheco Pereira.

“The prolonged passivity in the face of this iniquitous reality allowed us to reach the painful limit of seeing the action of the Public Prosecutor’s Office generate the fall of two parliamentary majorities resulting from recent elections, despite the fact that, in both cases, in their first intervention, the courts not having provided support and even having contradicted the accuser’s narrative”, they argue.

“To make the situation worse, the country continued to witness the inconceivable, when, with a long five months having passed between the Prime Minister resigning, following the PGR statement, and his cessation of duties, the Public Prosecutor’s Office did not even deigned to inform him about the object of the investigation nor did he summon him to any procedural steps. In addition to constituting undue interference in political power, these episodes are also not in accordance with the requirements of the democratic rule of law”, they maintain.

Among the problems identified, the subscribers refer to “recurrent breaches of judicial secrecy, with the active participation of a large part of the media” which “give rise to popular trials, boycott the investigation and grossly trample on the most basic rights of many citizens, cruelly penalizing them for the rest of their lives, even when they end up judicially acquitted”.

A reform is “necessary that, although not disregarding the legitimate aspirations of justice agents, is not designed to suit the corporate interests of the various operators of the system, but that has the citizen and the defense of the democratic rule of law as the central axis of its concerns,” they say.