The new Attorney General of the State, Teresa Peramato, took office this Thursday as a member of the Council of State with a speech in which she once again congratulated her predecessor, Álvaro García Ortiz, convicted by the Supreme Court for revealing confidential tax information of businessman Alberto González Amador, partner of the President of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso.
If during his appearance before the Parliamentary Commission of Justice, Peramato expressed his “recognition of the work accomplished by my predecessor” and, in his first speech as Attorney General, he added his “respect, my admiration and my gratitude”, today he wanted to “highlight the legal qualities, commitment and foresight of my immediate predecessor, the very excellent Mr. Álvaro García Ortiz”.
“Let these words serve as gratitude and indisputable recognition“, he added.
Video | Prosecutor Peramato’s words about García Ortiz: “I must highlight his legal qualities, his commitment and his foresight”
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The president of the Council of State, Carmen Calvo, more restrained, praised Peramato and expressed her “gratitude for the work and contribution of her predecessor.”
The new Attorney General referred in her speech to the constitutional configuration of the Public Ministry in article 124 of the Fundamental Norm, which “consolidates its independence, guaranteeing that its actions are governed exclusively by the general interest and according to the principles of legality and impartiality.
“We are the guarantors of the legal system and the defenders of democratic values,” Peramato said.
This function “places us at the heart of the constitutional architecture with a responsibility that transcends the strictly procedural framework plan on the effective protection of fundamental rights and public freedoms”.
“The Public Prosecutor’s Office guarantees, throughout the national territory, unity of action and homogeneity of interpretation in the application of the law,” he underlined.
“However,” he added, “the work of prosecutors is not limited to the abstract defense of legality. The progress of democracy and legislative evolution have expanded the scope of our functions, granting us an increasingly active presence in areas where essential rights are disseminated.
He recalled, in this sense, that the Public Prosecutor’s Office intervenes in procedures linked to the protection of vulnerable groups, the fight against violence against women, the defense of the environment, the protection of minors and disabled people and the prosecution of offenses which threaten social peace.
“This functional development responds to a clear idea: law and justice are not static concepts but dynamic realities which must adapt to the needs of society.”
In this context, the action of the public prosecutor “is deployed according to a guiding principle: to protect those who have the most difficulty defending themselves. This is our guide and our reason for being”, he declared.
Peramato referred to what he called “the three essential commitments in this new stage.
The first is “my determined involvement in the fight against violence against women“.
Spain “has made progress in the comprehensive protection of victims, in the specialization of organizations and in institutional coordination”, he said.
However, “we must persevere in improving legal instruments, in the provision of resources and in social awareness, because real and effective equality does not admit any type of regression.”
As a second commitment, he mentioned the fight against corruption phenomena.
“No democracy can be sustainable if citizens’ trust in its institutions erodes,” he said.
For the Attorney General, corruption “not only violates legality but undermines social cohesion and the credibility of the system.”
“The Office of the Prosecutor, in coordination with other bodies, must act decisively to prevent, investigate and punish these behaviors, because institutional integrity is an indispensable condition for democratic legitimacy.”
The third commitment is his commitment to change in the criminal procedure modelfor prosecutors to take the lead in investigating the crimes, which he said cannot be postponed.
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