Public Prosecutor of Costa Rica
The Public Prosecutor's Office of Costa Rica has the accusatory function before the Criminal Courts through the exercise of the criminal action and the carrying out of the preparatory investigation in crimes of public action, a task that it fulfils jointly with the Judicial Investigation Agency.[1]
However, when the [law] authorises it, with the prior authorisation of the superior, the representative of the Public Prosecutor's Office may request that the criminal prosecution be totally or partially dispensed with, that it be limited to one or more offences or to one of the persons who participated in the act.
This same body must intervene in criminal enforcement proceedings, in the civil defence of the victim when appropriate, and assume the other functions assigned to it by law.
Since 2010, the position of attorney general has been held by Jorge Chavarría Guzmán. Chavarría is temporarily suspended for 3 months, from 13 October 2017 until 13 January 2018, while under investigation for allegedly concealing evidence in relation to "el Cementazo", a political scandal. Chavarría resigned from the post on 10 November 2017, due to his retirement. The current Attorney General is Emilia Navas Aparicio.
History
The Public Prosecutor's Office of Costa Rica was created by law of the Republic; it does not have constitutional status. The body that exists today, as an auxiliary institution of the modern administration of justice, dates from thirty-four years ago, although its essence as a republican institution is the product of more than one hundred and fifty years of independent and constitutional history.
Initially, its officials had to know a vast number of matters, all related to the interests of the State, among which three main aspects stood out: tax, patrimonial and criminal. Criminal matters came to prevail over the others, since tax matters remained in the sphere of the Executive and "tax criminal" matters in the Public Prosecutor's Office. Criminal tax matters were of little relevance, as its unique legislation reserved most of the activities to the administrative procedure; on the other hand, property matters remained the task of the Attorney General's Office on a relatively equal footing with the private sector.
Organizational structure
The Public Ministry is made up of different units and prosecutors' offices, including:
- Prosecutor General's Office.
- Fiscal Council.
- Prosecution of the Deputy Attorney General.
- Assistant General Procuratorates.
- Office of Technical and International Relations.
- Unit Tax Inspectorate.
- Prosecutors from the Attorney General.
- Training and Monitoring Unit.
- Administrative Unit.
- Unit Property Crime.
- Drug Trafficking and Juvenile.
- Deputy Economic Crime, Corruption and Tax.
- Enforcement of the penalty.
- Unit scams.
- Unit vehicle thefts.
- Domestic Violence Unit and Sex Crimes.
- Deputy Environment.
- Civil Defense Office of the Victim.
- Office of Information and Guidance for the Victim.
The Civil Defense Office of the Victim
The Civil Defense Office of the Victim is an office that provides the victims of a crime with the services of a legal representative to help them obtain compensation for the damages they have suffered.
The Office of Civil Defence for Victims is part of the Public Prosecutor's Office and began its work on 1 January 1998, with the entry into force of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The professional service provided by this office is completely free and consists of assigning a lawyer to the victim, who takes the necessary steps to ensure that the accused or whoever is responsible for him pays for the damages caused. This is called "civil action for damages". If the office verifies that the victim did have sufficient resources to hire a private legal representative to handle the case, it will make the necessary arrangements for the victim to pay for the professional services received.
Office of Information and Guidance for Victim
The Office of Information and Guidance for Victim was created with the aim of guiding the victim and reducing his or her problems during the criminal proceedings.This office is attached to the Public Prosecutor's Office and is located on the sixth floor of the Courts of the First Judicial Circuit.
References
- políticos, Gerardo Ruiz R. Periodista de Política Escribe sobre temas; República, económicos y sociales Cubre la Presidencia de la. "Magistrados separan al fiscal general de todas sus funciones por tres meses". La Nación, Grupo Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-02-02.