The Disciplinary Statute of Members of the Public Prosecution Service

Abstract

The article analyzes the legal structure of the disciplinary statute applicable to members of the Public Prosecution Service, aiming to demonstrate its autonomy in relation to the general disciplinary regime of public servants and to systematize disciplinary offenses, sanctions, and procedural stages. It adopts a legal-dogmatic methodology based on the examination of the Constitution, the organic laws governing the Public Prosecution Service, resolutions of the National Council of the Public Prosecution Service, as well as relevant doctrine and case law. It argues that the disciplinary regime of members of the Public Prosecution Service has its own normative framework, subject to specific internal and external controls, and identifies disciplinary offenses as functional and non-functional, highlighting the relevance of open-ended types such as breach of decorum and the application of principles such as typicity, proportionality, adversarial proceedings, and full defense. The article also describes the stages of disciplinary prosecution, including preliminary inquiry, administrative disciplinary investigation, and formal disciplinary proceedings, each with different degrees of adversarial protection and institutional review. It concludes that the autonomy of the disciplinary statute of members of the Public Prosecution Service derives from the institutional nature of the career and requires a specific sanctioning system compatible with functional independence, disciplinary accountability, and the protection of institutional dignity.