Independence
No organ and no person may instruct the service in an individual case.
Article 225(1): the Assembly, an executive committee, the Coordinating Bureau, a planning body, a council of a territory, a party and any person may in no case instruct the prosecution service in an individual case.
Instructions permitted, and their author
| Instruction | By whom | Conditions |
|---|---|---|
| General priorities of prosecution | The head of the service alone | In writing, published, naming no person, no enterprise and no case. Article 225(2) |
| An instruction in a particular case, within the service | A superior within the service | In writing, placed on the file, disclosed to the parties. Article 225(3) |
| An instruction in a particular case, from outside | Nobody | Article 225(1) names every organ expressly. |
Refusing an unlawful instruction
Article 225(4): a prosecutor may refuse an instruction they consider unlawful, states the refusal in writing on the file, and Article 61(3) protects them.
Article 243: reprisal against a person who furnishes information to an oversight office is void, is grounds for reinstatement and reparation, and is an offence.
The refusal goes on the file, so it is disclosed to the parties along with the instruction it refuses. Two refusals were recorded in the year to 30 June 2026, and both files carry the instruction and the refusal.
The head of the service
Article 224(2) has the Judicial Council appoint the head by open competition upon published criteria, for a single term of seven years, never renewed, removable only by the procedure of Article 206.
The members drawn by lot form the majority in every formation of that Council, including its appointment boards, so the appointment is made by a body in which residents outnumber judges.
Investigations touching office holders
The file, the decision and the reasons are published on the conclusion of a case where the person under investigation holds a public office. Article 226(4) reports investigations touching a member of the Assembly, a member of an executive committee, a delegate to a planning body, a judge or a justice in aggregate, at annual intervals.