João Medeiros (Partner) writes an opinion article for Jornal Económico newspaper on the Directive no. 1/2020, which has determined that in the context of hierarchical relations between Public Prosecutors, the doctrine enshrined in the Opinion of the Consultative Council of the Attorney General's Office no. 33/2019 should be observed and made mandatory.
"Personally, I preferred a structure of people with technical autonomy that obeyed the legality and objectivity imposed by law and what their consciences dictated. But, although I did not like it, I cannot say that I was surprised with the orientation that the Consultative Council came to follow. You could have guessed it. It was enough to think of the instruction given last December by the District Attorney of Porto to the prosecutors of the northern region of the country, forbidding them, without proper authorization, to ask for the acquittal of the accused in cases of more serious crimes".
Read the article here.