Fèlix Bolaños assured that the Government would declassify documentation classified as secret or reserved if there was a judicial request. He affirmed it on April 24 of last year after meeting with the Minister of the Presidency, Laura Vilagrà , as a result of the crisis opened by the espionage with Pegasus to some sixty people related to the independence movement. Today, the Minister of the Presidency already has an official request to do so. It has been processed by the investigating court number 20 of Barcelona.
The judge considers it “essential” that the Spanish Executive declassify the secret official documentation related to the purchase or use of the Pegasus software. The program was allegedly used by the National Intelligence Center (CNI) to spy on the mobiles of ERC deputies Josep Maria Jové and Diana Riba. In this way, the court has sent a request to the Council of Ministers, since it considers the declassification essential before an upcoming testimonial statement by the director of the CNI, Ester Casteleiro. With this measure, the judge wants to prevent Casteleiro from being able to rely on official secrecy to prevent her statement from being effective.
Jové and Riba filed a complaint for espionage, within the framework of the Catalangate in which they requested the declassification of secret or reserved documents. The judge agreed and 23 days ago already announced that she would proceed to claim it from the Council of Ministers. The Republicans also requested Casteleiro’s appearance.
In May 2022, the then director of the CNI, Paz Esteban, appeared before the Official Secrets commission. In Congress, she recognized 18 spies, with names and surnames, and another seven or eight more affected without revealing their identity. Jové and Riba do not appear on the list of these 18, but they do appear on the list of 65 names prepared by Citizen Lab and which was the origin of the open crisis between Moncloa and the Generalitat.
The 18 spies recognized by the CNI were Pere Aragonès, then vice-president of the Generalitat and national coordinator of ERC; Jordi Sà nchez, general secretary of Together for Catalonia; Carles Riera, deputy of the CUP; Elisenda Paluzie, president of the ANC; Marcel Mauri, former vice-president of Omnium; Jordi Bosch de Borja, former member of the Ã’mnium board; Gonzalo Boye, Carles Puigdemont’s lawyer; Joan Matamala, friend of the former president; Josep LluÃs Alay, head of the Waterloo Office; Xavier Vendrell, entrepreneur and former ERC advisor; Elsa Artadi, former advisor to the Presidency of the Government; Albert Batet, deputy of Junts; David BonvehÃ, president of PDECat; Marc Solsona, deputy general secretary of PDECat and mayor of Mollerussa; Sergi Miquel Gutiérrez, director of the technical structure of the House of the Republic; and Jordi Baylina, Pau Escrich and Xavier Vives, technology entrepreneurs.
