Judicial Employees Union distances itself from manifesto on Justice – Politics

The president of the Union of Judicial Employees (SFJ) stated this Friday that the manifesto signed by 50 personalities on the situation in the area of ​​Justice “seems more like a political agenda than anything else” and is late.

“This petition seems out of time and seems more like a political agenda than anything else, because when they could contribute to the reform of Justice, they didn’t do so”, criticized António Marçal, with the exception of former PSD leader Rui Rio who “for a long time has been raising the problem” of justice

António Marçal told Agência Lusa that the position of the document’s subscribers “is late” and “also somehow suspicious” as it only appears now in “reaction to specific cases”, including the Influencer process and the Madeira case, considering that it was There need to be lawsuits against “powerful people” so that a manifesto also signed by “powerful people” emerges.

The president of the SFJ stressed that he is concerned about the situation of Justice also when it comes to ordinary citizens, as “access to Justice is a complete fallacy”.

“Only the poorest and most indigent have access to legal aid, which in Portugal is miserable”, stressed António Marçal, regretting that many of the subscribers, who are part of the political and legislative power, have done nothing to change the panorama of Justice when the responsibility These powers are responsible for the functioning of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the courts, which also approve the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Law on the Organization of Criminal Investigation.

Furthermore, he recalled, it is up to the Government to present the name of the Attorney General of the Republic to the President of the Republic.

Thus, António Marçal distances himself from this manifesto of “powerful people” who, he considered, came to manifest in relation to “concrete cases” of justice that also involve “powerful people”.

However, the Ministry of Justice (MJ) 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 courts.

In a comment sent to Lusa on the manifesto signed by 50 personalities 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 that it is “working hard to try to solve these problems, from the first minute”.

A group of 50 personalities 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 Prosecutor’s Office and the guarantees of judicial defense, resolve the “strangulations and the dysfunctions that have long undermined its effectiveness and public legitimacy”.