Sánchez says he was unaware of the espionage against independentistas and questions the methodology of Citizen Lab

It alleges that the vast majority of the 65 telephones spied on and those of the Government were by actors outside the Spanish administration

MADRID, 26 May. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has argued today that the Government "does not know and does not decide on the operational decisions of the CNI" to make it clear that he was unaware of the espionage carried out by the center on independence leaders.

In this context, he has also pointed out the "reasonable doubts" of the methodology of The Citizen Lab report that points to the espionage of 65 independentistas, limiting it to only 18 and pointing out that the vast majority of the interventions "have been by completely unknown actors outside the Spanish administration, just as the phones of members of the Government were also infected". He has also once again defended his commitment to dialogue in Catalonia and offered the Generalitat its continuity at the Dialogue Table.

During his appearance today in the plenary session of Congress to account for the wiretaps by the National Intelligence Center after the 'Pegasus case' broke out, he justified, despite the fact that the secret services carried them out after the crisis they caused, between the 2015 and 2020, the procés, the declaration of independence and the sabotage as a result of the Supreme Court ruling against the independence leaders. "The crisis was a huge concern for national security, which is why the services proposed the intervention and the judge accepted it," said the chief executive.

But he also wanted to make it clear that "the government does not know and does not decide on the operational decisions of the CNI." Adding that this could have happened with another government, but "never", he has emphasized it, with his. "I guarantee that it will not happen", Pedro Sánchez added, justifying this statement in that it is the essence of democracy and also the limitation of the Executive power and "submission to the strictest legality".

On the contrary, he pointed out that those "hard and traumatic" moments that Catalan and Spanish society experienced "are past times". However, he has specified that he is not saying that the conflict in Catalonia is over - "nothing is further from reality", he has exclaimed - because much remains to be done. But he has been convinced that his government has returned the matter "to the territory from which he should never have left."

At this point, he has valued his commitment to the dialogue that he committed to in his investiture speech and to the open negotiation table with Catalonia.

Regarding the report published by the platform The Citizen Lab, which denounced the espionage of 65 Catalan independentists, he pointed out the "reasonable doubts" about the methodology and pointed out that the report itself recognizes the impossibility of conclusively attributing the hacking operations to a specific entity.

In this context, it has made it clear that the Ombudsman's report itself has indicated that the CNI's telephone intervention was limited to 18 leaders and not 65 as stated in the Canadian entity's report, and all of them under strict legality with judicial authorization.

Therefore, he pointed out that in the face of speculation, the conclusion is that the vast majority of the infected mobiles included in The Citizen Lab's report "have been by unknown actors completely unrelated to the Spanish administration, as were the telephone numbers of members of the Government". "That is the reality and no other," she added.

That said, he has committed himself to what he has pointed out as a "fundamental constitutional democratic principle" and that is that any person whose communication has been intercepted, without the required judicial authorization, "has been the victim of a crime and has the right and all the solidarity of the Government of Spain to find out the truth and restore their fundamental rights".

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