María José Segarra Crespo (born 1963), is a Spanish jurist,

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

between 2018 and 2020. She began her career in the prosecutor's office in 1987. From 2004 to 2018 she was in charge of the Prosecutor's Office of

Province of Seville The Province of Seville () is a province of southern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It borders the provinces of Málaga and Cádiz in the south, Huelva in the west, Badajoz in the north and Córdoba in the ...

Career

Early career and education

She graduated in law from the

Autonomous University of Madrid The Autonomous University of Madrid (; UAM), commonly known as la Autónoma, is a Spanish public university located in Madrid, Spain. The university was founded in 1968 by royal decree. UAM is widely respected as one of the most prestigious univ ...

. She entered the Prosecutor Service on 14 September 1987 for the Territorial Court of

Province of Barcelona Barcelona (; ) is a province of eastern Spain, in the center of the autonomous community of Catalonia. The province is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Lleida, and Girona, and by the Mediterranean Sea. Its area is .Sant Boi de Llobregat Sant Boi de Llobregat () is a city in the Province of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain, located on the banks of the Llobregat river. In 2019 it had 83,605 inhabitants. The city is divided into six neighborhoods (named ''barris'' in Catalan): Ciu ...

Sabadell Sabadell () is a city and municipality in Catalonia, Spain. It is in the south of the ''comarca'' of Vallès Occidental, where it is one of the two capitals, the other being Terrassa. It is located on the River Ripoll, north of Barcelona, a ...

and

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, as well as coordinating the Children's Service.

Chief Prosecutor of Seville (2004–2018)

In 1993 she moved to

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

and in 2004, when she was 41 years old, she was appointed chief prosecutor of the

under

Cándido Conde-Pumpido Cándido Conde-Pumpido Tourón (born September 22, 1949) is a Spanish judge who has served as President of the Constitutional Court (Spain), President of the Constitutional Court since January 2023.

as head of the State Attorney General's Office becoming the second youngest chief prosecutor in Spain and the third woman to reach a head in this profession. She remained at the head of the Andalusian provincial prosecutor's office in the administrations of

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (; born 4 August 1960) is a Spanish politician and member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). He was the Prime Minister of Spain being elected for two terms, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. O ...

and of

Mariano Rajoy Mariano Rajoy Brey (, ; born 27 March 1955) is a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 2011 to 2018, when a 2018 vote of no confidence in the government of Mariano Rajoy, vote of no confidence ousted his government. A m ...

. She was renewed for the last time in 2015 under attorney general Consuelo Madrigal At the head of this prosecutor's office, she faced trials like that of Murder of Marta del Castillo as well as coordination with the Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office for the

ERE Ere or ERE may refer to: * ''Environmental and Resource Economics'', a peer-reviewed academic journal * ERE Informatique, one of the first French video game companies * Ere language, an Austronesian language * Ebi Ere (born 1981), American-Nigeria ...

and Invercaria. She has also highlighted her work creating and strengthening the group of economic crime attorneys, as well as focusing equally on strengthening the Violence against Women section. In March 2018, she was appointed member of the Prosecutor's Council, occupying one of the nine seats of members of the consultative body that advises the

. During her candidacy, promoted by the Progressive Union of Prosecutors, she pointed out the importance of the deployment of the prosecutor's offices, digital development and denounced the few staff in the prosecutor's offices.

Attorney General (2018–2020)

On June 15, 2018, she was nominated by the

Council of Ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...

to be the head of the

Prosecution Ministry The Prosecution Ministry () or Public Prosecutor's Office is a constitutional body ( Part VIbr>§ 124 which has full autonomy within the judiciary of Spain. It is entrusted with defending the rule of law, the rights of the citizens, and publi ...

, replacing Julián Sánchez Melgar who held the position for six months. The appointment of Segarra was endorsed by the

General Council of the Judiciary The General Council of the Judiciary (, CGPJ) is the national council of the judiciary of Spain. It is the constitutional body that governs all the Judiciary of Spain, such as courts, and judges, as it is established by the Spanish Constitut ...

. She was appointed on June 29 and was sworn in before the

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

on July 3, 2018. On September 9, 2018, it was announced that the Public Prosecutor's Office would keep the accusation of rebellion for the separatist leaders that fled or are imprisoned. In May 2019 Segarra issued a working circular with guidelines regarding the interpretation of article 150 of the

Spanish Criminal Code The Criminal Code is a law that codifies most criminal offences in Spain. The Code is established by an organic law, the Organic Law 10/1995, of 23 November, of the Criminal Code (''Ley Orgánica 10/1995, de 23 de noviembre, del Código Penal' ...

concerning

hate crime Hate crime (also known as bias crime) in criminal law involves a standard offence (such as an assault, murder) with an added element of bias against a victim (individual or group of individuals) because of their physical appearance or perceived ...

which advised prosecutors that aggression against people holding a belief in

Nazi ideology Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was freque ...

incitement to hatred Hate speech is a term with varied meaning and has no single, consistent definition. It is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as ...

against Nazis could be prosecuted under this law due to its ambiguity. The circular was strongly criticised by a number of lawyers and legal associations, including

Judges for Democracy Judges for Democracy (, JpD) is one of the five Spanish professional associations of judges and magistrates. It was founded by Juan Alberto Belloch. Since judges and magistrates in Spain are barred from joining class trade unions, professional asso ...

, who argued that the guidance could enable prosecutions of

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

survivors, and that it violated judgements made by the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

. Segarra was ceased from the office on 15 January 2020 as

Dolores Delgado Dolores Delgado García (born 9 November 1962) is a Spanish prosecutor who served as Attorney General of Spain from 2020 to 2022. Previously, she served as Minister of Justice and First Notary of the Kingdom from 2018 to 2020, in the first Pedr ...

was nominated as her successor. Luis Navajas assumed the office of Attorney General ''ad interim'' until the formal appointing of Delgado. She belongs to the Progressive Union of Prosecutors (UPF), a progressive Attorney's Union.María José Segarra, reelegida como fiscal jefe de Sevilla

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Segarra, Maria Jose 1963 births Living people Lawyers from Madrid 20th-century Spanish lawyers Attorneys general of Spain 21st-century Spanish lawyers Spanish prosecutors Prosecutors general of Spain

Career

Early career and education

Chief Prosecutor of Seville (2004–2018)

Attorney General (2018–2020)

See also

References