Spain to declassify secret documents in ‘Catalan Gate’ scandal

The Spanish government agreed on Tuesday to release secret documents on the tapping of the mobile phone of Catalan President and leader of the separatist party ERC Pere Aragonés by agents of the state-run National Intelligence Centre (CNI) using the Israeli spying software Pegasus, a scandal known as “Catalan Gate”.

Last December, Aragonès accused the CNI of spying on his mobile phone with the Pegasus programme between July 2018 and March 2020, when he was vice-president of the Catalonia region, Euractiv´s partner EFE reported.

“It is proven that we were spied on, it was approved by Citizen Lab  – the “Catalan Gate”- then an independent expert, a report by the Mossos (Catalan police) and therefore repeatedly ratifies that what they denied from the beginning happened and it is clear who did it and the prosecution cannot hide nor the judge, it is taking too long”, Patricia Plaja, spokesperson of the Catalan executive said on Tuesday, El Periódico de Catalunya reported.

It is a “partial declassification” of secret documentation referring to the spying on Aragonés, said government spokeswoman Pilar Alegría (PSOE/S&D), explaining that the government decided a request from the Spanish courts.

The spokeswoman added that this declassification “in no case” affects Spain’s national security.

Aragonès himself filed a lawsuit last July against the Israeli group NSO, which markets the Pegasus system, and against Paz Esteban, the former director of the CNI, who had been sacked by the government a few days earlier following the outbreak of the spying scandal involving several Catalan separatist leaders, Sánchez and several ministers in his government.

The Catalan president then told a judge that he was the victim of three separate attacks on his mobile phone in early January 2020, coinciding with Sánchez’s inauguration. However, a later expert report extended the period in which Pegasus could have compromised Aragonès’ phone from July 2018 to March 2020.

The coalition government between PSOE and Sumar has always been open to declassifying this secret documentation if the courts so requested, and always with the necessary legal guarantees.

However, while Alegría did not want to respond to questions regarding the government declassifying more documents, she stressed that the progressive coalition is interested in clearing up this espionage scandal as soon as possible.

‘The sewers of the State’

The news of the partial declassification of secret documents comes just a day after a press leak about a case of unlawful investigations against Catalan separatist leaders under the government of former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy (PP/EPP).

Plaja stressed on Tuesday that if Rajoy “knew about and did not prevent” the actions of the so-called “patriotic police”, then “he endorsed them and was complicit” in them.

“We are witnessing the confirmation of criminal activities from the structures and foundations of the state, which have become rotten sewers. It is extremely serious, and we need to know everything, ” added Catalonia’s regional government spokeswoman.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)

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