A judge is investigating the Civil Guard for the first time for spying with Pegasus.

BarcelonaA Barcelona judge has decided to investigate for the first time two former directors of the Civil Guard, Félix Vicente Azón and María Gámez, for spying on the independence movement using Pegasus. Judge Míriam de Rosa Palacio thus admitted a complaint filed by five of those targeted by this espionage, including businessman and former Junts senator Joan Matamala. The judge considers that the reported acts could constitute crimes of discovery and disclosure of computer secrets and illegal access to computer systems.

The complaint, which was filed on April 30 of this year, is not only against Félix Vicente Azón – who was director of the Civil Guard between 2018 and 2020 – and María Gámez – director of this force until 2023 – but also against the National Intelligence Service (NI) in this particular espionage case, and against executives of the Israeli company NSO, which markets the Pegasus software.

The plaintiffs also request that the use of Candiru, a spyware software that the defense warns the Spanish government has not admitted to acquiring and using until now, be investigated for the first time. They also document that one of the plaintiffs was spied on while in Switzerland, which they claim would constitute a violation of the country's sovereignty and legislation.

With this complaint admitted for processing, the judge must now decide whether to accept the proceedings requested by the plaintiffs. First, the plaintiffs are requesting the declassification of documents and therefore ask the Council of Ministers to declassify all documentation on the use of Pegasus and Candiru against the plaintiffs, including judicial or administrative authorizations, the cost of the operations, and the files generated.

They also demand that the former director of the CNI, Paz Esteban, and the former directors of the Civil Guard, Félix Vicente Azón Vilas and María Gámez Gámez, as well as the directors of NSO Group (Shalev Hulio and Omri Lavie) and Saito Tech (Isaac Zack), be declared as investigated. In this regard, they request international cooperation to issue European Investigation Orders in Luxembourg and letters rogatory in Israel to obtain documentation and testimony from the headquarters of the spyware companies and their subsidiaries.

At the same time, the plaintiffs demand independent forensic evidence. Thus, they require the Mossos d'Esquadra (Spanish Mossos d'Esquadra) to prepare expert reports on the plaintiffs' devices to prove the infections. They also request testimony from the experts from Citizen Lab and Amnesty International who initially documented the Catalangate case on espionage within the independence movement. In the complaint, and in order to have all the information at their disposal, the plaintiffs urge access to the preliminary investigations. Therefore, they ask the Central Investigative Court No. 6 of the National Court to forward the proceedings in the "Democratic Tsunami" and "Operation Judas" cases against members of the CDR (Republican Democratic Revolutionary Group), in which the plaintiffs were allegedly investigated.

"It's not an individual repair"

Joan Arús, president of Sentinel Alliance and one of the plaintiffs, makes it clear that the complaint "not only seeks individual redress, but also seeks to expose the tools used to degrade democracy from within." Arús believes that the rule of law has not existed without proper oversight of public power. "The admission of the case opens an urgent debate on how the State is oversight. We need effective prior judicial guarantees and real subsequent accountability, two things that are impossible under a 1968 Official Secrets Act that is an anti-democratic relic," he denounces.

This legal action in Barcelona was initiated after the National Court rejected an investigation into the events due to a question of territorial jurisdiction. The Barcelona court's decision opens a new judicial front for the victims of Catalangate in their search for truth, justice, and reparation for the spying to which they were subjected using their cell phones and computers.