Justice Ministry reacts to statements of Prosecutor General’s Office

The prosecutors should concentrate on criminal justice so that they do not perform the duties of other authorities, the Ministry of Justice said after a news conference held at the Prosecutor General’s Office, where it was said that it is premature to speak about the exclusion of prosecutors from the civil process, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to a communiqué from the Ministry, one of the priorities of the Government’s work program, for which it received the Parliament’s vote of confidence, is to reform the Prosecutor’s Office and modify its powers so that it focuses on criminal justice. “The Ministry of Justice established that in all the cases when the prosecutors appear as participants in the civil process, they perform the same duties as the state authorities responsible for certain areas. For example, the juveniles in trials are represented by the tutelage authority and the child’s lawyer. The Public Property Agency is responsible in the trials concerning state property, while in the trials regarding budget resources, the state interests are defended by the Ministry of Finance. The provisions of the law that ensures guaranteed state assistance for people who cannot afford a lawyer came into force on January 1, 2012,” it is said in the communiqué. The Ministry says that the amendments to the Civil Procedure Code are aimed at strengthening the general role of the Prosecutor’s Office of defender of the public interests and rights through the agency of the criminal justice system, not at undermining it. In a news conference on March 6, prosecutors said the Prosecutor General’s Office is against the exclusion of the prosecutors from the civil process, as the Ministry of Justice proposed in a bill with amendments to the Civil Procedure Code. According to them, there are local public authorities that do not have possibilities and staff to protect the socially underprivileged people, minors, the disabled, and elderly people. Thus, the participation of the prosecutors in the civil process is justified.