Poland's right-wing leader grilled over Pegasus spyware
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The parliament accuses the leader of Poland's main populist party of spying on opposition figures and parties using Israeli spyware Pegasus.
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Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the head of Poland’s ruling opposition, speaks to a party convention in Poland, on Sunday 14, 2023. (AP)
The leader of Poland's primary populist party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, was summoned before a parliamentary commission on Friday to address accusations of utilizing the Israeli spyware Pegasus during the tenure of the nation's former government.
The Law and Justice (PiS) party, in power from 2015 to 2023, is under suspicion of conducting surveillance on opposition politicians and judges who criticized its governance.
Kaczynski, who also held the position of Poland's prime minister, admitted in 2022 that the country had purchased the spyware but refuted allegations that it was employed against dissenters.
Before the scheduled inquiry on Friday, Magdalena Sroka, the commission's chairperson, stated that Kaczynski was chosen as the initial witness due to his "accountability for the conduct of the Law and Justice Party, which governed until 2023."
Sroka further emphasized that the procurement and utilization of Pegasus were not legally justified.
The parliamentary committee will scrutinize the purposes and legality surrounding the utilization of Pegasus and aim to ascertain the procurement process of this system and others like it in Poland.
Multiple sources within the new ruling coalition, spearheaded by pro-EU Prime Minister Donald Tusk, hinted that the list of individuals slated for questioning, although undisclosed, may be extensive and potentially revealing.
Dive deeper
Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity monitoring group based in Canada, affirms that Pegasus was deployed against multiple individuals in Poland.
Among the prominent targets identified was Krzysztof Brejza, currently serving as a member of the European Parliament. Brejza previously held the role of coordinator for the electoral campaign of the opposition party Civic Platform during the 2019 legislative elections.
Once installed on a mobile device, Pegasus enables access to the user's messages and data. Additionally, it permits remote activation of the device to capture audio and visual recordings.
The newly established parliament has initiated two additional investigative committees concerning the actions of the Law and Justice (PiS) government. One focuses on the botched attempt to organize presidential elections during the COVID-19 pandemic, while the other scrutinizes the widespread issuance of paid Polish visas by consulates across various nations.
