The request for the filing of the case
The Prosecutor’s Office has requested the Court of Barcelona to file the open case against the former director of the National Intelligence Center (CNI) Paz Esteban for spying on the mobile phone of the President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, with Pegasus . This request also has the support of the public ministry, since they argue that the intervention on the telephone of the head of the Catalan executive, who they suspected of having relations with the Committees for the Defense of the Republic (CDR), was always guaranteed by Spanish justice, being legally supported.
Paz Esteban’s statements and expert report
Paz Esteban stated before the judge that the Supreme Court had authorized them to spy on the president of the Generalitat with Pegasus. This occurred during the period in which Aragonès was acting as CDR coordinator from his position as Vice-President of the Government. However, an expert report presented by Aragonès’s defense asserts that the spying spanned more time than Esteban had indicated.
Declassified documents and reactions from the Presidency
The declassified documents of the CNI reveal that the Spanish secret services ordered the spying on Aragonès because of the suspicions that he acted as coordinator of the CDRs. However, Presidency sources consider this documentation totally insufficient to justify the spying on the then Vice President of the Generalitat.