The Attorney General of the Republic, Lucília Gago, denied on Wednesday that she had refused to provide clarifications and assured that she has always been available to be heard in the Assembly of the Republic, “having never requested at any time the postponement” of the hearing.
“From the first moment, I expressed total receptivity regarding the acceptance of the invitation addressed by this committee, having never requested at any time the postponement of this same hearing. I merely suggested that, with this report [on the Public Ministry’s activity] in an advanced stage of preparation, the hearing could take place when the same report was already completed – a suggestion that was accepted,” she stated before the deputies in the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees.
Lucília Gago emphasized in her initial intervention that “this is the fourth time since the beginning” of her mandate that she has been heard in the Assembly of the Republic, recalling that she was heard in 2019 regarding the theft of military material in Tancos, in July of the same year in a hearing on domestic violence, and again in 2021 in a hearing on the directive of hierarchical powers in criminal proceedings.
“When some speak of the need for accountability, insisting that this magistracy and its elements, including its leadership, are not exempt from being accountable – naturally this is so and has been occurring,” she stated, adding that “this is evidenced by the inspective activity to which magistrates are subject.”
Heard regarding the 2023 report, but also following various high-profile cases, the Attorney General of the Republic expressed surprise at the “sudden interest” in the annual activity report of the Public Ministry (MP), since the document “has been publicized and disseminated every year, and it is the first time that an Attorney General is directly questioned on the subject.”
Lucília Gago justified the delay in delivering the report in question with the “strikes that have been taking place by judicial officials, regardless of the fairness of their demands.” “But this factor is the reason that delayed the data collection,” she explained.
“The magistrates of the Public Ministry make an enormous effort, sometimes Dantesque, to carry out their mission, in a deficit framework, with the staff framework also being very deficient, despite the insistent – and I insist – the insistent signals in this regard made regarding the extreme situation experienced in the courts, to which we have been vehemently drawing attention for years,” she added.