October 19, 2012

PRESS RELEASE

The Public Information and Press Relations Bureau within the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice is authorised to release the following information to the public:

The order issued on October 9, 2012 by the First Deputy to the General Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice establishes, from a managerial point of view, the structures and departments to be coordinated by the First Deputy to the General Prosecutor, and those to be coordinated by the Deputy to the General Prosecutor.

This order has replaced the previous one which had been issued by the General Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice (whose tenure ended) and which had also established the structures to be coordinated by herself, those coordinated by her First Deputy, and by her Deputy. We mention that prior to these two orders, other internal orders with similar content were issued based on applicable law and internal regulations.

As such, the Internal Regulation for Prosecutor’s Offices dated February 21, 2007, approved by Order of the Minister for Justice, expressly provides that when the General Prosecutor is absent or in case he/her cannot perform the official duties incumbent upon him/her regardless of the cause, the First Deputy to the General Prosecutor shall legally replace the General Prosecutor in the performance of his/her official duties, and that, in turn, the Deputy shall replace the General Prosecutor in case the First Deputy cannot perform his/her official duties.

Furthermore, it must be mentioned that in accordance with current applicable laws and with the Internal Regulation for Prosecutor’s Offices, the General Prosecutor manages the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism, and the National Anticorruption Directorate through the Chief Prosecutor of that respective structure, and the latter’s official duties are legally incumbent upon the First Deputy in case the General Prosecutor cannot perform his role.

Responsibilities relating to criminal process and proceedings that are incumbent upon the General Prosecutor in relation to the activity of the directorates and sections he/she coordinates are provided by current applicable law and not by this order on managerial division.