The scandal erupted a year ago when it turned out that the authorities of the Iberian kingdom were spying on Catalan nationalists. And then it was learned that the phones of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Defense Minister Margarita Robles and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaschi had also been hacked by hackers – using the same Pegasus program.
For more than a year, the commission studied various aspects of this case. And in her report, she identified Morocco as the most likely responsible for monitoring Sanchez, Robles, Grande Marlasca. At the same time, the commission believes that it was Madrid who spied on Catalan politicians who advocate independence for the region.
“Based on a number of indicators, it is assumed that the sighting of the Catalan targets was carried out by the Spanish authorities,” the document states. There is talk of judicial surveillance authorizations, but they have not always been issued (only 18 cases out of 65 have been confirmed).
By the way, the wording used in the European Parliament attracts attention, the commission did not make unambiguous statements, leaving gaps so that, if necessary, it was possible to abandon its own conclusions.
Recall that in the spring of 2022, dozens of politicians who advocate the independence of Catalonia said they were victims of digital espionage by Madrid. The official authorities in no way reacted to the accusations, and after a while another scandal broke out. It turned out that the Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sanchez and the Minister of Defense Margarita Robles themselves were victims of hackers, their mobile devices were hacked using the Pegasus program.
As admitted by the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Minister of Courts and Historical Memory Felix Bolaños, the hacks were committed in May and June 2021, but they only discovered it several months later – after a thorough check of the Spanish Prime Minister’s phone file. Bolanos called the incident an outside attack but did not name the culprit. However, even then, suspicion fell on Morocco. The fact is that at that time the diplomatic relations between Madrid and Rabat were going through a serious crisis.
Spain made no direct accusation. He simply does not have evidence, it is impossible to collect it without cooperation with Israel, where the spyware was developed, and he has never helped in investigations when similar scandals broke out in other countries. .
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p class=””>Therefore, the case of the surveillance of Catalan politicians is not advancing in Spain either. Recently, a court in Barcelona asked the National Intelligence Center for information on whether the service used the same Pegasus program to spy on Catalan politicians (at least those who went to court), and also to explain in general why this software had been purchased. So far, the secret services have not given such explanations.
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