The decision by the Barcelona High Court follows the admission of an appeal filed by the entity, which found elements indicating an 'unauthorized' external intervention on the mobile phones of those affected. The authorship of this intervention points directly to the National Intelligence Center (CNI). Consequently, a rogatory commission has been requested from the Spanish Council of Ministers to declassify all information the CNI may possess regarding the infection of devices belonging to Òmnium's former vice-president, its international and legal head, and a journalist.
Furthermore, the Court has ordered a rogatory commission to Israel, where the companies owning the espionage software are based, to determine if they retain data on the use of Pegasus in relation to the three spied individuals. Òmnium's appeal, which sought an investigation into the infection and use of the software, provided numerous forensic IT proofs.
“"The reopening of the case and the judge's admission of the existence of crimes confirms the political espionage perpetrated against the cultural association."
The entity had previously denounced a 'fragmented, slow, re-victimizing, and ineffective' judicial investigation, as the judge had not carried out any investigative proceedings. Therefore, it called for a new procedural impetus to clarify the facts and achieve justice, including summoning the companies NSO Group Technologies Limited, Q Cyber Technologies Limited, and OSY Technologies, owners of the espionage software, to provide all data and banking documentation linked to Pegasus operations.
The president of Òmnium emphasized that the Court's finding of evidence of CNI involvement demonstrates that the 'persecution of the independence movement' is carried out within 'brutal illegal and repressive frameworks' that disregard fundamental rights. He reiterated that Catalangate not only violates 'the right to privacy and communication' of the individuals involved but also affects their freedom of expression and right to defense, in addition to illegally spying on one of Europe's most important civil society organizations. The investigating court 21 of Barcelona had archived the investigation on February 12 of this year.
