The head of the investigating court 32 of Barcelona, Juan Antonio Cruz de Pablo, has issued the provisional dismissal of the open investigation into espionage with the Pegasus software to the former president of the Parliament and current Minister of Business, Roger Torrent, and to the councilor of ERC in Barcelona, Ernest Maragall, for lack of a known perpetrator, and while awaiting Israel's response to the rogatory commission issued by the magistrate in relation to the Israeli company NSO, manufacturer of the spyware.
The plaintiffs' lawyer, Andreu van den Eynde, interprets the decision as a way to protect the victims of espionage in such a way that the investigation of the case does not expire while waiting for the information requested by the judge from Israel more than a year ago. a year and a half, on October 26, 2020, without having received any response. The judge also requested information from Ireland.
However, the plaintiffs in an appeal ask the judge to reverse his decision to close the investigation provisionally, understanding that this measure is not necessary to protect the victims of espionage with Pegasus and ask the judge to extend the investigation as many times as necessary. necessary and speed it up. In addition, his lawyer points out that many more complaints will soon reach the judge, so he does not see the provisional dismissal as appropriate.
According to EFE, in the appeal, Van den Eynde reminds the judge that since February 4, 2021, the response of the rogatory commission sent to Ireland appears in the case, in which it is indicated that the requested computer data - the WhatsApp records that prove the mobile attack with Pegasus - are in the United States. However, Van Den Eynde maintains, the judge has not made "any decision on whether to urge the claim" of that WhatsApp data.
The same judge, who reactivated the investigation after the outbreak of Catalangate and asked Maragall and Torrent to provide their cell phones in order to analyze them, already refused a few weeks ago to accept the complaints filed by other victims of Pegasus after the cell phone espionage was revealed. of more than sixty leaders, journalists and lawyers from the pro-independence environment revealed by The Citizen Lab.
