A judge has asked the Government to declassify the secret official documents related to the purchase or use of the Pegasus software to supposedly spy on the mobile phones of the ERC deputies Josep Maria Jové and Diana Riba, before summoning the president of the CNI, Esperanza, to testify Casteleiro.
In an order, to which EFE had access this Tuesday, the head of the Investigating Court number 20 of Barcelona has also agreed to summon the company OSY Technologies, from the Israeli group NSO, once she has been notified of the complaint against her. filed by Jové and Riba.
The judge has adopted these decisions after the Barcelona Court partially upheld an appeal from the two ERC deputies in mid-March. Likewise, the magistrate ordered to carry out some of the procedures that both requested in their complaint, including the appearance in court as a witness of the president of the National Intelligence Center (CNI), Esperanza Casteleiro.
In her ruling, the judge agrees to issue a reasoned statement to the Council of Ministers to request that the Government declassify the information related to the purchase or use of the Pegasus software to spy on Jové and Riba’s mobile phones and, “later”, hear in court the statement of the president of the CNI.
The lawyer for both ERC deputies, Andreu Van den Eynde, requested the declassification of the official documents linked to the purchase or use of Pegasus on Jové and Riba to prevent Casteleiro from refusing to testify before the judge on the grounds that he had not risen official secrecy, a situation similar to that which occurred in the European Parliament’s Commission of Inquiry into this alleged case of espionage.
In a statement, ERC has expressed its satisfaction with this judicial resolution, since it understands that “the pressure is increasing” towards the Spanish State “to give explanations about the Catalangate”, while Van den Eynde has stressed that they are putting Spain and its structures “in check”.
The Republican party highlights in its statement that government representatives have reiterated their “total willingness” to collaborate with the courts in the declassification of official documents related to the activity of the CNI.
In her resolution, the judge also agreed to summon the two Republican plaintiffs as witnesses: the MEP Diana Riba and the deputy in Parliament Josep Maria Jové.
Last May Cateleiro replaced Paz Esteban at the head of the CNI, dismissed by the Government as a result of the controversy over espionage with Pegasus, which reached the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, or the Catalan President, Pere Aragonès.
