The Democratic Role of the Public Prosecution Service in Collective Litigation: The Public Prosecution Service as an Institutional Guarantee of Citizens in the Democratization of Access to Justice

Abstract

This study examines whether the Public Prosecution Service can function as an instrument for the realization of the democratic principle through the broad and effective promotion of fundamental rights, and whether collective litigation constitutes an appropriate mechanism for fulfilling this constitutional role; it also investigates whether the Public Prosecution Service may be understood as a fundamental guarantee necessary for the effective protection of collective fundamental rights; the research focuses on analyzing the role of the Public Prosecution Service within collective proceedings, particularly in its function as an institutional guarantee of access to justice, assessing whether it can be conceived as an instrument of social emancipation; to this end, it presents a brief historical overview of the evolution of the institution up to its current constitutional status under the 1988 Federal Constitution, which established the Democratic Rule of Law; it then addresses the characteristics of collective litigation and how the Public Prosecution Service may utilize this mechanism to protect social interests; based on these foundations, the study ultimately analyzes the Public Prosecution Service as an institutional guarantee of citizens in the democratic realization of access to justice.