Portugal
Prosecution in Portugal
The Ministério Público — constitutionally autonomous, answering to neither the courts nor the government — governed by its own Prosecutor General's Office and High Council.
Facts on this page were checked against their sources on .
Prosecution in Portugal is conducted by the Public Prosecution Service (Ministério Público). Article 219 gives it the competence to represent the State, to take part in implementing the criminal policy defined by the sovereignty organs, and to "exercise penal action governed by the principle of legality" — and provides that it "shall have its own statute and autonomy, as laid down by law". It is headed by the Prosecutor General's Office (Procuradoria-Geral da República), whose Prosecutor General serves a six-year term, and includes a High Council of the Public Prosecution Service.
The same idea, explained generally
- What does a prosecutor do?
A prosecutor decides whether a criminal case should be brought, on what charges, and presents it in court. This guide explains the tests applied, the duties owed, and how the role differs between systems.
- Why do justice systems need oversight?
Justice institutions hold coercive powers, often operate out of public view, and make decisions that are hard to reverse. This guide explains the oversight mechanisms built to detect and correct errors, and their limits.
Sources
Sources
Constitution of the Portuguese Republic (1976, 7th revision 2005) — official English translation
Assembleia da República (Parliament of Portugal) · Legislation · 1976 · link verified 2026-07-26
The Assembly of the Republic's official English translation of the Constitution (seventh revision, Constitutional Law 1/2005), fetched as a PDF and text-extracted, confirmed verbatim in both passes (the Portuguese text was also fetched). Supports Art. 6 ("the state is unitary"; the Azores and Madeira as autonomous regions), Art. 23 (the Ombudsman / Provedor de Justiça), Art. 164(u) and 165(1)(c)+(p) (the security-forces regime, criminal law, and the organisation of the courts and the Public Prosecution Service reserved to Parliament — and, via Art. 227(1)(b), excluded from regional legislation), Art. 202–204 (the courts as organs of sovereignty, independent, with diffuse constitutional review), Art. 209 (the categories of courts: Supreme Court of Justice, Supreme Administrative Court, Court of Auditors), Art. 217–218 (the High Council for the Judiciary), Art. 219–220 (the Public Prosecution Service — "its own statute and autonomy" — and the Prosecutor General's Office), Art. 221–222 (the Constitutional Court, thirteen judges), and Art. 272(4) ("each such force shall have a sole organisational structure for the whole of Portuguese territory").