Robles defends that the Government has declassified "the essential" about Pegasus, in the face of criticism from ERC

MADRID, 25 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, defended this Thursday that the Government has declassified "the essentials" in relation to documents on the espionage of the president of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès, with the Pegasus program, thus addressing the disappointment of ERC, which believes that the lifting of reserves on them "has not met expectations."

The Government proceeded to "partially" declassify the documents ten days ago, following the request of the judge handling the case on the use of Israeli-made computer software against Aragonès and 17 other independence leaders. The declassification takes place two months after the indictment of the then director of the National Intelligence Center (CNI), Paz Esteban, who testified on Friday within the framework of the investigation.

In Robles' appearance before the Congressional Defense Commission, ERC deputy Francesc-Marc Álvaro reproached the minister for saying that the Executive "created expectations" about the declassification of these documents that, according to him, have not been met.

Álvaro has told Robles that the Government "should facilitate" the case being clarified and, if not, he has warned that ERC "understands that they are hindering" the judicial work. He has also questioned him about the reason why Spain has not exploited diplomatic channels with Israel, as France did, to clarify what is related to Pegasus. Bildu deputy Jon Iñarritu has expressed himself along the same lines, considering that the Government "has not provided the judge with all the requested information."

For his part, Robles recalled that he cannot speak about the matter in light of Esteban's statement this Friday, but he did want to make it clear that the Government has declassified "the essentials, without stinginess" so that the former director of the CNI can respond to the questions that are asked. He has also pointed out that, regarding the use of Pegasus, "everything that was done was with judicial authorization."

On the other hand, the deputies of ERC and Bildu have asked the minister about progress in modifying the law on official secrets. Robles has guaranteed that she is in favor and that she is working on this remodeling, but it is an inter-ministerial matter and a lot of coordination is necessary, without providing more details.

During the minister's appearance at the Defense Commission, Iñarritu also raised the issue of the CNI agents investigated for allegedly leaking information reserved to the United States. Specifically, she was upset that her department did not report and the case came out through the press.

Robles has not wanted to comment on the issue and has limited himself to emphasizing that, when the Defense learned of the alleged events, it brought it to the attention of the justice system.