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The lawyer Roman Giertych and the public prosecutor Ewa Wrzosek raise serious allegations
Photo: Andrew Medichini / Czarek Czarek Sokolowski / AP
Poland is said to have spied on opposition members with the state Trojan Pegasus. The government rejects the allegations that it used the controversial espionage software Pegasus for political purposes. "The suggestion that Polish services have used operational methods for political purposes is unjustified," said Stanislaw Zaryn, spokesman for the ministry responsible for intelligence, in Warsaw yesterday. A lawyer and a public prosecutor had previously stated that the espionage software had been used against them.
The lawyer Roman Giertych, who is involved in several proceedings against the ruling law and justice party (PiS), told the newspaper "Gazeta Wyborcza" that Poland was using the software "to fight the democratic opposition".
The software was used before the 2019 election, which "completely suppresses the meaning of democratic elections."
Research group "Citizen Lab" confirms use
The prosecutor and opposition supporter Ewa Wrzosek said that the espionage software had also been used against her. She had been informed about it by the IT company Apple. The Canada-based research group "Citizen Lab" confirmed that they had tested the use of Pegasus against Giertych and Wrzosek. "We carried out these tests and gave the two people confirmation that they were repeatedly infected with Pegasus software," said John Scott Railton of Citizen Lab at the AFP news agency.
With the Israel-made Pegasus spyware, cell phones can be hacked on a large scale.
All cell phone communication of a target person, whether encrypted or not, can be intercepted and read.
The spyware has fallen into disrepute since it has been proven that it is not only used to prosecute criminals, but also innocent people on a large scale.
The extensive abuse of Pegasus became known in July based on research by an international journalist consortium.
Hundreds of journalists, activists and opposition figures around the world have apparently been victims of espionage using Pegasus.
Secret services and police authorities in several countries are said to have used the software offered by NSO to tap into the mobile phones of those affected.
After research by »Zeit«, »SZ«, WDR and NDR, the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) also uses Pegasus to spy abroad.
The Chancellery is reportedly inaugurated and approved the operation.
In mid-September it became known that the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) had acquired Pegasus and had been researching suspects' cell phones since the beginning of this year.
muk / AFP