The judge investigating the Pegasus case insists on clarifying whether President Pere Aragonès was spied on without the authorization of the Supreme Court. In an order issued by the head of the 29th investigative court of Barcelona, the magistrate refuses to dismiss the former director of the CNI, Paz Esteban, until it is clarified whether the president's espionage was fully authorized. In the letter, the judge rejects the request of the State Attorney's Office, which, on behalf of the former director of Spanish intelligence, had requested that her accusation be archived once she had already given explanations in court about this matter. The judge maintains that there are still steps to be taken and it would be premature to close the investigation, according to Eldiario.es and the EFE agency, citing judicial sources. Esteban assured that everything carried out by the CNI had the authorization of the Supreme Court.
In his complaint, Aragonès maintained that his mobile phone was spied on on January 4, 5 and 13, 2020, as detected by the Canadian laboratory Citizen Lab. However, an expert report carried out subsequently at the request of the president indicated that the ERC leader His mobile phone was infected between July 2018 and March 2020, a period that did not have the approval of the Supreme Court. For this reason, the magistrate is considering commissioning a report from the Mossos d'Esquadra so that they can carry out an independent analysis and determine the exact dates on which the president's cell phone was infected with Pegasus.
The prosecution also joins the request but requests that Aragonès hand over his cell phone to proceed with its study, a request that the president has denied. In parallel, the investigating judge has asked the parties to rule on whether the investigation opened as a result of Aragonès' complaint should be extended for another six months, as required by law once half a year of investigation has elapsed.
