Augusto Santos Silva stated, this Friday, that the criticism pointed out to the manifesto of 50 personalities about justice does not surprise him, since any political initiative is seen as an "attack" on its independence. The former president of the Assembly of the Republic also criticized the functioning of the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP), which, in his view, works as if no one "were in charge of it".

It should be noted that the issue at hand is a group of 50 personalities who appealed to the President of the Republic, the Government and the Parliament to take initiatives that, while respecting the independence of the courts, the autonomy of the MP and the guarantees of judicial defense, resolve the "bottlenecks and dysfunctions that have long undermined its effectiveness and its public legitimacy".

The manifesto, entitled "For a reform of justice - in Defense of the Democratic Rule of Law", is subscribed not only by Santos Silva, but also by personalities such as Ferro Rodrigues and Rui Rio.

In an interview with SIC Notícias, Augusto Santos Silva argued that this is the right time to carry out this reform.

"I do not believe there could be a better time, since we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of April 25, democracy has progressed in many areas, but one of the areas in which it has unfortunately progressed the least is precisely the area of justice. And, therefore, it seemed very opportune to us to launch this manifesto which, after all, is an appeal to all parties and parliamentary groups, to all sovereign bodies, to get involved in the reform of justice and also a support for the functioning of a justice in Portugal that is independent, that is effective and that respects the rights of all", he stated.

The former Minister of Foreign Affairs also said he believes that this appeal will be answered, namely due to the "diversity of people who subscribe" to the manifesto.

As for the criticism pointed out, namely by the processes referenced in the document - the 'Operation Influencer' and the recent case that also led to the fall of the Regional Government of Madeira - Santos Silva admitted not being surprised, arguing that these criticisms "feed on prejudice". 

"None of these criticisms surprise me, also because they feed on the prejudice that we denounce and that I never get tired of denouncing, which is a prejudice, unfortunately, lively in several sectors of the Portuguese Justice and especially in the Public Prosecutor's Office, according to which any political initiative for the reform of justice is considered a political attack on the independence of justice", he said.

"Therefore, I am not surprised by this criticism, which is completely unfair and, by the way, misplaced", he reinforced, also arguing that "the idea that it is not possible to legislate when there are criminal judicial proceedings underway is an absurd idea, because, if we were to comply with it, no legislative process would be possible".

Stating that the cases used in the manifesto are "exemplary", the former president of the Assembly of the Republic recalled that "in both cases two political crises were created due to the responsibility of judicial actions" and, in a reference to the statement of the Attorney General's Office, which led to the resignation of António Costa as prime minister, he said: "Almost six months later, the only thing we know is that the prime minister at the time was never heard about this process". 

In this sense, he criticized the Attorney General of the Republic, Lucília Gago. "One of the most serious functioning problems that the Public Prosecutor's Office has today is that it is not a hierarchical magistracy. In fact, the Attorney General of the Republic had no qualms in telling the country that she did not feel responsible for anything", he stated.

However, Santos Silva did not side with Rui Rio in asking for the resignation of Lucília Gago.

"In my opinion, what the Public Prosecutor's Office needs is for the Attorney to exercise her powers, exercise her authority and take responsibility for her house. This, personally, seems to me to be the most surprising fact, that the Public Prosecutor's Office today functions as if it had no direction, no authority, no one in charge of it, no one to take responsibility for it", he reinforced.

The socialist also argued that "much more consideration is needed in the way inquests are opened, in the way home searches are carried out, in the way telephone tapping is done". "And more efficiency and speed is needed because today we have processes that take years and years and years without even an accusation being made", he added.

Leia Também: Manifesto das 50 personalidades "assenta em preconceitos sobre MP" (Portuguese version)