The President of the Republic refused this Thursday to make any political judgment on the archiving of the Spinumviva caselimiting himself to saying that the decision taken by the Public Prosecutor’s Office results from the normal functioning of justice. “I’m not going to qualify,” stated Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, insisting that the essential thing is for there to be a “strong” justice system capable of deciding. “If you want, it’s justice working”, he said.
Asked by journalists about whether the archiving should be read as good news for democracy or for the country, the head of state maintained the line of restraint, remembering that the decision is the exclusive responsibility of the institution that investigated the process and that it makes no sense to speculate about alternative scenarios.
“It could have been something else, this one. Whoever makes the decision is the competent entity”, he said, adding that, after months of investigation, there was a formal conclusion that put an end to the process. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa took the opportunity, however, to frame the case within a broader problem: the functioning of the judicial system and the public perception of the timing of justice.
Faced with the delay in the investigation, the President explained that the mechanism used – the preventive investigation – has its own limitations, including the absence of coercive means. “It is a procedural mechanism that does not involve a series of steps and in which no one can be coercively forced to collaborate”, he stated, recalling that the Collection of elements depends on the voluntary collaboration of the people involved and the deadlines they consider appropriate.
Amadeu Guerra, Attorney General of the Republic
Tiago Miranda
Without confirming whether this factor was decisive for the duration of the process, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa acknowledged that this reality may have weighed on the investigation calendar, always placing the responsibility on the existing legal framework. “It is its own reality”, he noted, insisting that it is up to those who collaborate with justice to decide whether to do so and under what terms.
Also asked about the political impact of legal cases that end up archived after long periods of investigation and about the perception created by two Governments having fallen in contexts related to justice, Marcelo once again refocused the debate on structural reforms of the judicial system, recalling the attempt to promote a “Justice Pact” at the beginning of his first term. ADespite some progress, “a lot remains to be done”, he laments.
In this context, he considered the recent signals coming from various institutions to be positive, from proposals from the President of the Supreme Court of Justice to initiatives from the Government and Parliament, arguing that there is today a greater transversal awareness of the need to improve the functioning of justice. “It is a path that is being taken”, he said, highlighting the importance of broad consensus for lasting reforms.
Regarding the preventive investigation instrument itself, Marcelo avoided direct criticism, saying only that the Attorney General of the Republic, Amadeu Guerra, has already announced his intention to issue directives on the matter, based on powers recognized by the Supreme Administrative Court. “We will wait and see whether this happens or not,” he stated, adding that he regularly monitors the functioning of the Public Ministry, maintaining institutional contacts with successive attorneys general.
In the end, the President once again separated himself from any ethical or political reading of the Spinumviva case, reaffirming the separation of powers and the need to preserve the autonomy of justice. “The political function is one, the jurisdictional function is another”he concluded, refusing to transform the archiving of the process into a political trial.