The president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, demanded from the central government the declassification of documents from the National Intelligence Center (CNI) so that “the whole truth can be known” about espionage through the mobile phone with Pegasus that he suffered in 2020 when he was vice-president and for which he filed a complaint that he ratified yesterday as a witness before the judge of instruction number 29 of Barcelona, ??Santiago García.
In his statement, as he explained himself on leaving the court, it was ratified in the complaint, directed against the former director of the CNI Paz Esteban and the Israeli group NSO, which markets spy software, with the aim that ” let the whole truth be known”. And so that “never again will a citizen of Catalonia be spied on because of their political ideology; that no member of the Government of Catalonia, no councillor, no vice-president, no president of the country, will ever be spied on because of their institutional activity”. For this reason, Aragonès demanded that the Government declassify documents so that Esteban, at the time suspended for the case, can provide information when he testifies in January – he was scheduled to testify yesterday but the summons was postponed.
“It is an ethical and moral obligation of the Spanish Government”, the head of the Catalan Executive told journalists about the declassification of documents. “It is essential that it be known who ordered it, what data they have, who has it and what it was used for”, insisted the president, after the CNI pointed out before the judge for having spied on his mobile phone between July of 2018 and March 2020, when ERC was engaged in relevant political negotiations, such as the investiture of Pedro Sánchez or the dialogue table.
According to legal sources cited by Efe, Aragonès detailed before the judge that on the dates he believes he was spied on he maintained frequent contacts with the bank, companies and the Government due to his position as vice president and as head of ERC, and he pointed out that some of the infections happened during the pandemic, when communications were inexorably by telephone.
Precisely on Monday, the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, stated that the Central Government is studying to declassify some documents related to the case before it declares Paz Esteban, who due to her former position is obliged to comply with the Official Secrets law, so cannot provide the judge with any details that are protected. However, if the Government declassifies information, as the judge has asked, Esteban could answer the instructor’s questions that include the declassified documents. For the time being, the Supreme Court has shielded itself in secrecy to deny information and the former director of the CNI, represented by the State Attorney’s Office, has appealed against the judge’s request to the Council of Ministers to lift the secrecy. Everything is in the hands of the Government of Pedro Sánchez.