The CNI acknowledges that it spied on Carles Riera and David Fernàndez with Pegasus

BarcelonaThe CNI spied on Carles Riera and David Fernàndez for alleged "activities contrary to national security". The agency had the phones of the two former CUP deputies infected with Pegasus for almost two years and six months, respectively, and had the authorization of the Supreme Court.

This is stated in the documentation declassified by the Council of Ministers at the request of investigating court 32 of Barcelona, with the endorsement of the Barcelona Court of Appeal, following the lawsuit filed by Riera, Fernàndez, and fellow former deputy Albert Botran. In the latter case, the Spanish secret services deny having spied on him, even though the Mossos concluded that he had also been a victim of Pegasus.

"Mr. Carles Riera Albert and Mr. David Fernàndez Ramos were effectively subjected to legal communication interception measures," states the Ministry of Defense in a document dated June 29, to which ARA has had access. And it authorizes the lifting of the espionage secret by the CNI for the use of the mobile phones of the two CUP leaders "in activities contrary to national security," which are not specified.

What the document does detail is that Riera's phone was intercepted between June 2020 and May 2022, a period during which he was a deputy and third secretary of the Parliament of Catalonia, and that Fernàndez's espionage lasted between December 2019 and June 2020, a period that does not coincide with his time as a parliamentarian, but which falls within the months following the protests against the verdict of the Procés.

Regarding Botran's case, however, the document assures that the CNI "has not executed, on any date, any activity that could be the origin of the investigation proceedings" about which the judge requested information. "There has been no such CNI activity," it is emphasized regarding the alleged espionage.

Beyond declassifying the information, the Council of Ministers also authorizes the director of the CNI, Esperanza Casteleiro, to testify judicially in this case. "The testimonial declaration [...] could be made without violating the duty of secrecy incumbent upon her," it is argued.

The admission of part of the espionage against anti-capitalist former deputies comes four months after the court ordered a request to be sent to the council of ministers for the declassification of corresponding information from the CNI, thus unblocking a petition pending since 2022. The case is added to a long list of pro-independence politicians and activists who have reported similar espionage incidents in recent years, including the former President of the Generalitat Pere Aragonès or the former President of the Parliament Roger Torrent.

Political reactions

One of the first political reactions to the news has been that of Junts. "It confirms what we have been saying for a long time," said the party's spokesperson, Josep Rius, regarding the admission of espionage against the independence movement by the CNI. The Junts leader added that it is an act "unbecoming" of a democracy that wishes to consider itself "full" in the European Union (EU) and reiterated his call for the resignation of those responsible for the secret services and the Minister of the Interior, Fernando-Grande Marlaska, reports Ivan Sànchez Crivillé.Next, the spokesperson for the CUP, Su Moreno, also lashed out in a press conference this Monday against the State. Moreno described the events as "very serious" and assured that the espionage demonstrates that there was "a State operation protected by opacity that seeks to criminalize dissent and the independence movement". "The Spanish state uses its intelligence apparatus to pursue and criminalize independence and political dissent," denounced the CUP spokesperson, who demanded the immediate declassification of all documentation and the assumption of political responsibilities.