The Minister of Justice today denied any involvement in any “organised campaign” against the Attorney General of the Republic after Lucilia Gago denounced the situation in an interview with RTP1 and accused Rita Alarcao Judice of attacking the Ministry of State (MP).
“The Minister of Justice is not organizing a campaign with anyone against the prosecutor or against any other organization,” the minister said, assuring that she does not know whether Lucilia Gago linked her criticism in a recent interview with Observador to this alleged campaign against the deputy.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the final session of the training course at the Judicial Studies Centre in Lisbon, Rita Alarcão Judice also stressed that there is “no atmosphere of tension” in the relationship with Lucilia Gago.
“The prosecutor’s term is ending, we are not going to stir up tension or confusion. As you can see, we have good institutional relations,” he added.
Faced with the accusation of Lucilia Gago for not having voiced her diagnosis of the current state of the deputy in a meeting at the Ministry of Justice that lasted three hours, the minister stressed that the meeting took place “at the beginning” of her mandate and served “essentially to learn about the concerns” of the Attorney General of the Republic, to resolve which, according to her, she “is making every effort”.
Rita Alarcao Judice also denies that she thought about firing Lucilia Gago and prefers to focus on the future.
“We are following the end of the prosecutor’s mandate, which is coming to an end, and we are thinking about the future. This is what we are already doing, this is what I came here today to highlight: the future of the judiciary,” he said, adding: “I am concerned about the future of justice.”
Regarding the profile of Lucilia Gago’s successor in the Attorney General’s Office, Rita Alarcán Judice reiterated that the topic “has already been widely discussed” and stressed that “there are no doubts about this topic on the part of the Minister of Justice and the Government”.
Finally, the government official refused to comment on the petition signed by about half of the deputy’s lawyers against the wave of criticism, noting that she was not familiar with the document.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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