Poland’s prosecutor general told parliament on Wednesday that it is powerful pegasus spyware It was used against hundreds of people during the former government in Poland, among them elected officials.
Adam Bodnar told lawmakers he found the scale of the surveillance “shocking and disappointing.”
“It is sad for me that even in this room I am talking to people who were victims of this system,” Bodnar said in the Sejm, the lower house of parliament.
Bodnar, who is also Justice Minister, did not say who exactly was subject to surveillance by the spyware. His office said the information is confidential.
Bodnar was presenting information that the Prosecutor General’s Office sent to the Sejm and Senate last week. The data revealed that Pegasus was used in the cases of 578 people from 2017 to 2022, and was used by three different government agencies: the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Military Counterintelligence Service and the Internal Security Agency.
Data shows it was used against six people in 2017; 100 in 2018; 140 in 2019; 161 in 2020; 162 in 2021; And then nine in 2022, when it closes.
Human rights lawyer Adam Bodnar hands out leaflets to morning marchers to participate in his first election for a seat in the Senate with the opposition Civic Coalition in Warsaw, Poland, on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2023. Poland’s prosecutor general told parliament on Wednesday, April 24, 2024, that powerful Pegasus spyware was used against hundreds of people in Poland under the former government, including elected officials. Adam Bodnar told lawmakers that, speaking as both a citizen and prosecutor general, he found the scale of the surveillance “shocking and disappointing.” (AP Photo/Zarek Sokolowski)
The Associated Press broke the news of Pegasus misuse by former governments in December 2021, based on forensics from the University of Toronto’s online watchdog Citizen Lab.
Bodnar said that the software generated “excessive knowledge” about the “personal and professional lives” of those placed under surveillance. He also stressed that the Polish state does not have full control over the data collected because the system operates on the basis of a license that was granted by an Israeli company. “The use of such a method should raise serious doubts from the point of view of protection of constitutional rights,” he said.
Pegasus, manufactured by Israel’s NSO Group, has been sold to governments and has been described as a tool to fight criminals and terrorists. However, evidence has emerged of governments using it against political opponents, journalists, and human rights activists.
Concerned about the potential for misuse of the technology, the Biden administration blacklisted the NSO Group in 2021, restricting access to it. American technology, This year it went further and imposed visa restrictions on foreign individuals involved in commercial spyware abuse.
Pegasus gives its operators full access to the mobile device, allowing them to extract passwords, photos, messages, contacts and browsing history, and activate the microphone and camera to listen in real time.
Its use in Poland under the previous government led by the Law and Justice Party resulted in accusations that officials were abusing power and destroying democratic guardrails.
Investigation into use of powerful spyware launched after Prime Minister Donald Tusk Took over as head of a three-party pro-EU coalition in December.
The investigation into the use of Pegasus is part of a larger effort by Tusk and Bodnar to restore democratic norms they believe were destroyed by the law and justice government, which held power from 2015 to 2023.
“The use of Pegasus over these few years has poisoned the essence of democracy in Poland,” Marcin Bosacki, a lawmaker from Tusk’s centrist Civic Coalition, told lawmakers after Bodnar’s presentation.
Law and Justice chief Jaroslaw Kaczyński said during testimony to an investigative commission last month that “the use of Pegasus was in accordance with the law,” and that in 99% of cases it was used against criminals.
The minister currently in charge of security services, Tomasz Simoniak, said in an interview on private broadcaster TVN24 earlier this month that the use of Pegasus in Poland was “justified” in some cases of suspected terrorism and for counter-intelligence use. Too many cases” It wasn’t fair.
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Simoniak said that improper use of the software resulted in Poland losing the license to use it.
Bodnar is also working to address the issue of judicial independence after the previous government overhauled the justice system to gain more control over the courts.
Law and justice practices led the EU to block billions of euros of funding – money that is now flowing following the change of government.
