2024-02-19 21:12 update: 2024-02-20, 21:24
Magdalena Sroka, Tomasz Trela, Paweł Śliz. Photo PAP/Tomasz Gzell
The parliamentary commission investigating the alleged use of the Pegasus spyware will call key figures from the previous Law and Justice (PiS)-dominated government to testify.
Among those who could take the stand are Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the PiS leader, Zbigniew Ziobro, the then justice minister and prosecutor general, and Mariusz Kaminski and Maciej Wasik, the former interior minister and his deputy.
The commission, which held its first sitting on Monday, will investigate to what extent the spyware was apparently used.
Pegasus, which can be used to hack smartphones in order to get access to information and eavesdrop on conversations, was used against a number of people linked to the then opposition, according to reports from Citizen Lab, a specialised unit at the University of Toronto, phone maker Apple and Amnesty International.
The commission will also call Krzysztof Brejza, a member of the European Parliament from the centrist Civic Coalition grouping, who was allegedly spied upon with the use of Pegasus.
The list of witnesses also mentioned Krzysztof Kwiatkowski and Marian Banas, the former and current heads of the Supreme Audit Office (NIK), whose audit revealed that the purchase of Pegasus had been illegally funded by the Justice Fund, intended to support victims of crime.
According to the commission's chair, the list will be supplemented as the probe continues.(PAP)
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