The two main pro-independence entities, Ã’mnium Cultural and the Catalan National Assembly, have denounced in the Pegasus investigation commission in the Parliament a selective and planned cyber-espionage in specific periods of members of civil society.
In the opinion of these two actors in the independence movement, and based especially on the Citizen Lab report, the Spanish State did not randomly choose who and when it spied on. They have indicated that the phones of several leaders were infected to control, in this way, the political and legal strategies of the entities and their members or their international relations, among other issues. The State did it – they have assured – in specific periods such as the 1-O trial, when Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sánchez were preparing their defenses, or in the protests after the Supreme Court ruling
Xavier Antich, president of Ã’mnium, and Dolors Feliu, from the ANC, have appeared in the commission of investigation in the Catalan chamber on espionage with Pegasus and Candiru as witnesses. The Citizen Lab report, which revealed 65 cases of spying on pro-independence leaders and activists, includes six members of the Assemblea and another four from Ã’mnium.
Antich has detailed that these four affected were key pieces of the entity or those closest to Cuixart, while he was in prison, and that they frequently met with lawyers, other members of Ã’mnium or various international organizations. The espionage had a “multiplier effect”, he has assured her, because consequently it was possible to have access to the meetings that they held. “By spying on Ã’mnium, Amnesty International, United Nations rapporteurs have been spied on…”, he warned, which implies a “massive violation of rights”, such as freedom of expression and assembly, the secrecy of communications and the right defense, has listed among others.
Along the same lines, Dolors Feliu has expressed herself, who has stressed that the first affected in the framework of the Catalan Gate was Jordi Sánchez, former president of the Assemblea, as of 2015, which led, she said, to espionage of “his environment and their lawyers”, in addition to the activism actions that he organized through the entity.
The two heads of the pro-independence entities have agreed to denounce an “attack on the pillars of democracy” by infecting devices with this type of software. This espionage is due, they believe, to a strategy of “dissuasive effect” on society and to warn it of the “risk of repression”.
To “clarify” all the cases -they believe there could be more- the ANC has asked the Government to create a fund to finance the investigation of potentially infected mobile devices and the presentation of complaints. Likewise, it has demanded legal, technical and psychological assistance to those spied on. It also requests one from the Executive to carry out “risk awareness campaigns” of espionage.
The Catalangate was uncovered just a year ago by the Citizen Lab laboratory through an article published in The New Yorker. The report claimed that there were 65 independentistas affected, including politicians, activists and lawyers. The espionage was carried out with Pegasus, a software that only States can acquire, so that, quickly, from the independence movement, the Spanish authorities were held responsible. According to information from the congressional official secrets commission, the CNI took on 18 cases of espionage with a court order.
Apart from this investigation commission in the Catalan Chamber, another commission is also underway in the European Parliament, which must resolve the cases in which Spain is involved, in addition to those that appeared in Cyprus, Greece, Hungary and Poland. Recently, a delegation of MEPs was in Madrid, where they listened to explanations by the President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Meritxell Serret, and the ERC councilor in Barcelona Ernest Maragall.
