Political Constitution of Colombia (1991)

The Office of the Attorney General of the Nation shall consist of the Attorney General, his/her assistant attorneys, and other officials as determined by an Act.

The Attorney General of the Nation shall be elected for a period of four years by the Supreme Court of Justice from a list originating with the President of the Republic and is not eligible for re-election. The candidate shall have the same qualities required for a judge of the Supreme Court of Justice.

The Office of the Attorney General of the Nation is part of the judicial branch and shall have administrative and budgetary autonomy.

It is the responsibility of the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, in the discharge of its duties or following a denunciation, special petition or dispute, to bring criminal charges and to conduct the investigation of the facts which may constitute offenses, if there are sufficient reasons to assume the commission of an offense. Excepted are the crimes committed by members of the public force in active service and related to the same service. For such a purpose, the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation shall do the following:

To request the judge responsible for the control of [the constitutional] guarantees to take the measures which ensure the appearance of the presumptive offenders of the penal law at the trial, the conservation of evidence and the protection of the community, and in particular of the victims.

The judge responsible for the guarantees may be in no case the judge competent to try the matter.

Exceptionally, an Act may authorize the Office of Attorney General of the Nation to carry out administrative detentions. In these cases, the judge responsible for respect of the guarantees exercises his/her control within thirty-six (36) hours following the detention at the latest.

To conduct searches, house visits, seizures and interceptions of communications. In such cases, the judge responsible for the control of guarantees carries out his/her subsequent control within thirty-six (36) hours at the latest.

To take possession of the material elements of evidence, keeping them in custody while they are being refuted [by the accused]. When additional measures that imply the infringement of fundamental rights are required, the corresponding authorization must be obtained from the judge responsible for the control of guarantees in order to proceed.

To present the indictment before the judge competent to try the matter with a view of initiating a public, oral, adversarial trial with immediacy of the evidence and all the other guarantees.

To request the preclusion of investigations before the judge competent to try the case when there are no merits to the case.

To request before the judge competent to the try the case the necessary judicial measures to assist the victims, and order the restoration of the law and the integral redress of those affected with the crime.

To oversee the protection of victims, juries, witnesses, and all other intervening parties in the criminal procedure. An Act shall determine the manner in which the victims may intervene in the criminal procedure and mechanisms of restorative justice.

To manage and coordinate the functions of the Judicial Police which are permanently carried out by the National Police and other organs that an Act establishes.

To comply with all other functions determined by an Act.

The Attorney General and his/her deputies have competence in all the national territory.

In the event an indictment is brought, the Attorney General or his/her deputies shall provide, through the judge competent to try the matter, all the elements of proof and information he/she is aware of, including those favorable to the defendant.

The Office of the General Prosecutor of the Nation shall continue to perform, in the new system of inquiry, investigation and criminal judgment, the functions of Article 277 of the National Constitution.

Depending on the character of the protected interest and the minor gravity of the punishable conduct, the legislature may authorize the victim or other authorities to bring criminal charges. In any case the action by the Office of Attorney General shall have priority.

The following are special functions of the Attorney General of the Nation:

To investigate and, if there are sufficient grounds, to bring charges, directly or through the Deputy Attorney General of the Nation or his/her representatives from the investigation unit at the Supreme Court of Justice, against senior officials who are subject to a trial determined by the Constitution, with the exceptions provided in the Constitution.

To appoint and remove from office, in accordance with an Act, employees under his/her control.

To take charge directly of the investigations and procedures, whatever their stage may be, and freely assign and move his/her officials in the investigations and trials. Likewise, by virtue of the principles of unitary management and of hierarchy, to determine the position and views that the Office of Attorney General should adopt, without prejudice to the position of the deputy prosecutors in the terms and conditions defined by an Act.

To participate in the planning of state policy in criminal matters and to present draft laws in that respect.

To grant temporary powers to public entities that may accomplish functions of the judicial police under the responsibility and functional dependence of the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation.

To provide the Government with information about the investigations that are being conducted when these are necessary for the preservation of the public order.

Even during states of exception pursuant to Article 212 and 213 of the Constitution, the Government is barred from eliminating or modifying either the organizations or the basic functions of indictment and trial.

An Act shall determine matters relative to the structure and functioning of the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation at entry and retirement from the service for those who are unqualified or have incompatibilities with respect to appointment, qualifications, compensation, social benefits, and discipline of the officials and workers under his/her authority.

The government and administration of the Judicial Branch will be the responsiblity of the Judicial Government Council and the Administration of the Judicial Branch. These organs will carry out the functions that are attributed by law with the objective to promote the access to justice, the efficiency of the Judicial Branch, the effective judicial protection, and judicial independence.

The Judicial Government Council is the organ in charge of defining the policies of the Judicial Branch according to the law and to postulate the lists and shortlists of candidates that the Constitution orders. Also, it corresponds to the Judicial Government Council to regulate all the judicial and administrative proceedings in the judicial offices, for the aspects not anticipated by the legislator; issue the regulations of the system of judicial career and the Commission of Judicial Career, which will serve to oversee and control the career; approve the budget of the Judicial Branch to be sent to the Government; approve the judicial map; define the organic structure of the Administration of the Judicial Branch; supervise this entity, and provide reports about its performance to the Congress of the Republic.

The Judicial Government Council will be composed of nine members: the presidents of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Justice, and the Council of State; the manager of the Judicial Branch, which must be a professional with twenty years of experience, of which ten years must be in the administration companies and public institutions, and must be nominated by the Judicial Government Council for a period of four years; a representative of the magistrates of the tribunals and of the judges, elected by them for a period of four years; a representative of the employees of the Judicial Branch elected by them for a period of four years; three permanent members in exclusive dedication, named by the rest of the members of the Judicial Government Council, for a period of four years. None of the members of the Judicial Government Council can be reelected.

The permanent members in exclusive dedication mentioned in the previous paragraph will be in charge of strategic planning of the Judicial Branch and of proposing the Judicial Government Council, for its approval, the public policies of the Judicial Branch. They should have ten years of experience in the design, evaluation, and monitoring of public policies, administration models or public administration. In its election they must assure the diversity of academic and professional profiles.

Statutory law can determine the specific subjects for which the ministers of cabinet, the directors of administrative departments, the Attorney General of the Nation, as well as representatives of academics and practicing lawyers will participate in the meetings of the Judicial Government Council.

The Manager of the Judicial Branch is an organ that is subordinated to the Judicial Government Council and will be organized according to the principle of territorial decentralization.

The Manager of the Judicial Branch is responsible for executing the decisions of the Judicial Government Council, provide administrative and logistical support to this organ, administer the Judicial Branch, draft for the approval of the Judicial Government Council the budget that will be submitted to the Government, and execute it in conformity with the approvals of Congress, make the plans and programs for their approval to the Judicial Government Council, formulate the administration models and implement the procedural models in the national territory, administer the Judicial Career, organize the Commission of the Judicial Career, administer the competitions and oversee the performance of functionaries and offices. The Manager of the Judicial Branch will be the legal representative of the Judicial Branch. The Manager will carry out other functions that are attributed by law.

[Abolished by Legislative Act No. 2 of 2015]

The National Commission of Judicial Discipline will exercise the jurisdictional disciplinary function over the functionaries and employees of the Judicial Branch.

It will be composed of seven Magistrates, four of which will be elected by Congress in Plenary Session on the basis of short-lists sent by the Judicial Government Council with prior structured public call undertaken by the Management of the Judicial Branch, and three of which will be elected by the Congress in Plenary Session on the basis of short-lists sent by the President of the Republic with a prior structured public call. They will have personal periods of eight years, and they should meet the same requirements for the Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice.

The Magistrates of the National Commission for Judicial Discipline cannot be reelected.

There can be Sectional Commission of Judicial Discipline established as the law mandates.

The National Commission of Judicial Discipline will be in charge of examining the conduct and punishing the offences of the attorneys practicing their profession, in the instances that the law indicated, except when this function is attributed to a Board of Lawyers by law.

The National Commission of Disciplinary Justice and the Sectional Commission of Disciplinary Justice will not be competent to hear actions of tutela.

The Magistrates of the National Commission of Disciplinary Justice should be elected within the following year counted from the entry into force of this legislative act. Once taken office, the National Commission of Disciplinary Justice will take over the disciplinary proceedings of the Jurisdictional Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Council of the Judicature. The current Magistrates of the Jurisdictional Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Council of the Judicature will exerciser their functions until the day that the members of the National Commission of Judicial Discipline take office. The Disciplinary Chamber of the Sectional Judicial Councils will be transformed into Sectional Commissions of Judicial Discipline. It will be guaranteed the rights of career of the Magistrates and employees of the disciplinary chambers of the Sectional Councils of the Judiciary, who will continue knowing about the processes in their charge, without solution to continuity.