In statements to Lusa agency, Fernanda de Almeida Pinheiro emphasized that the ordinance is “illegal” as it “contradicts the Law on Access to Justice,” criticizing the amendment now proposed by the Deputy Secretary of State for Justice, Maria Clara Figueiredo, and the Minister of Justice, Rita Alarcão Júdice.
“I am truly surprised that a female lawyer (Rita Alarcão Júdice) and a female judge (Maria Clara Figueiredo) had the audacity to propose such an amendment that is illegal,” violating the law on access to justice, she said.
Fernanda de Almeida Pinheiro refuted the Ministry of Justice’s argument that there was a gap in the law to proceed with the amendment to the ordinance, recalling that there was “care on the part of the legislator to entrust the Bar Association with the management of advocacy and its participation in the system, and naturally to the Government the payment” of this service through the Institute of Financial Management and Justice Equipment (IGFEJ) and to Social Security the verification of the economic incapacity” of the citizen requesting legal aid.
“Each of the three parties has its mission perfectly defined. The management of schedules, appointments, excuse requests, substitution requests, which has always been done by the Bar Association to avoid what happened in the past, which was someone who knew that there were court processes on that day would place themselves at the door and when the scheduled lawyer was absent, they would be directly appointed by the (judicial) official, the criminal police body or whoever was there.”
The president of the Bar Association emphasized that the amendment to the ordinance interferes with what “has basically always been a competence of the Bar Association,” so she admits that the Order may judicially challenge the decision.
Fernanda de Almeida Pinheiro lamented that the Minister of Justice and the Deputy Secretary of State have chosen to amend the ordinance, dedicating themselves to “committing illegality,” instead of “working to present a proposal for revision and updating of the fee table” for official defenses, a problem that has been dragging on for 20 years.
The amendment to the ordinance comes at a time when there is an ongoing protest/boycott by the Bar Association against official defenses and, according to a statement from the Ministry of Justice, “now expressly provides for the appointment of an official defender by the court, Public Prosecutor’s Office or criminal police body (OPC),” applying “to cases of inoperability of the Bar Association’s official defender registration system, lack of schedules or failure to appear by a scheduled lawyer.”
A source from the Ministry of Justice clarified that the ordinance signed today, although not yet published in the Official Gazette, was sent for “urgent publication.”
In a statement, the Ministry of Justice notes that lawyers “maintain the freedom to accept appointments for official defenses.”
According to the Ministry of Justice, the amendment aims to address gaps in current legislation in situations where it is not possible to appoint an official lawyer due to “unavailability of the information system that prevents consultation of schedules, lack of schedules, unavailability of the scheduled lawyer or non-appearance within the regulatory deadline.”
“The Ministry of Justice considers it imperative to defend the existence of a system of access to justice that provides citizens who need it with a defender to ensure the protection of their rights,” the statement reads.
