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The Attorney-General of the Republic (Procurador-Geral da República, in Portuguese) is the head of the Brazilian federal prosecution office, called "Ministério Público da União", an autonomous agency in charge of criminal prosecution, the defense of minorities' interests, the environment, and the protection of constitutional principles and rules. The Attorney-General heads a group of independent magistrates, called Procuradoradores de Justiça, who work to investigate and prosecute criminal, labor and civil offenses committed against society and, specially, against racial, sexual, religious and political minorities or the environment.
Since 1988, the Attorney-General's Office is no longer in charge of the legal advising and representation of the Executive Branch before court, which has been ascribed to the Brazilian Solicitor-General. In addition, the Minister of Justice, as a cabinet member, completes the Brazilian law enforcement structure by being in charge of the Federal Police Department, amongst other duties.
Federal Police investigating activities are overseen by federal prosecutors at the Attorney-General's Office.
State Attorney-General
Since Brazil is a federal republic, every state has its own local prosecution office, headed by the State Attorney-General (Procurador-Geral de Justiça, in Portuguese), with the same attributions, at a local level, of the federal office. A State prosecutor is called Promotor de Justiça.
Both federal and state prosecutors are public officials belonging to the civil service, who are granted in their jobs only after approval on public-entrance examinations.
See also
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