The Spanish cabinet has decided this Tuesday to declassify the documents containing information about espionage through Pegasus against the Catalan president, Pere Aragonès. Among the documents that are declassified is the complaint laid by Aragonès, the resolution by Supreme Court judge Pablo Lucas authorizing the infection of his device, which would have made possible the recording of calls from some people involved in the October 2019 protests in Catalonia against the pro-independence leaders' trial sentencing. That is to say, not all the documents that the Spanish intelligence services, the CNI, have had in their hands are declassified, nor the working method of the spy agency. Aragonès was a victim of this espionage when he was vice-president of the Catalan government; specifically January 2020, during Quim Torra's term as president of the Generalitat.
The declassification of this information had to occur before the former CNI director, Paz Esteban, testifies on January 26th as a person under investigation for the complaint by Pere Aragonès himself, at which she could argue that the spyware hacking of the president's terminal was carried out for national security reasons, and was authorized by the Supreme Court judge who oversees the activities of the intelligence centre.
The Spanish interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska opened the door in early December for the government to declassify the CNI's reports on Pegasus if it was considered "appropriate, reasonable and in accordance with the law". And he already pointed out that it was "quite likely" that the information relating to the spying on the president of the Generalitat would be declassified before the former director of the CNI had to declare as a person under investigation.
Pere Aragonès's complaint against Paz Esteban
In July 2022, Pere Aragonès filed a lawsuit against Paz Esteban and NSO, the Israeli cybersecurity company that owns the Pegasus software. On May 5th, 2022, Esteban admitted to the Spanish Congress's official secrets committee that president Aragonès was one of the 18 pro-independence leaders that the CNI had spied on with Pegasus, but that it was based on a judicial authorization. Only five days after this appearance she was relieved of her position. The judge called Paz Esteban to testify on December 13th, but this was finally postponed at the request of the state solicitor, the defence lawyer for the Spanish spies.
Last July, the Spanish government refused to turnover information about Pegasus, after it was demanded by the Barcelona Court No 20 , which is investigating a complaint presented by the ERC politicians Josep Maria Jové and Diana Riba. However, at the time the government assured that neither of the two had been investigated with Pegasus. A claim that was shown to be false this Tuesday, since according to eldiario.es, the Mossos d'Esquadra have confirmed that the mobile phones of both ERC members were spied on with Pegasus.