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Services do not use surveillance for political gain: official

“All theses that services use this type of method in operational work for political gains are false,” Stanisław Żaryn, spokesman for the Minister Coordinator of Special Services told the Polish Press Agency on Thursday. On Thursday Associated Press announced that Senator Krzysztof Brejza was under surveillance using the Pegasus programme.

The spokesman emphasised that the services “do not inform as to whether operational work methods have been applied to specific persons”.

“Operational control may be carried out in Poland after obtaining the consent of the Prosecutor General’s Office and after the court issues a relevant decision,” Mr Żaryn said. He added that “these procedures are followed and the Polish services operate in accordance with the law.”

According to the US news agency Associated Press, the Citizen Lab group operating at the University of Toronto announced on Thursday that Senator Krzysztof Brejza was under surveillance in 2019 using the Pegasus software developed by the Israeli company NSO Group. Senator Brejza’s phone was supposedly hacked 33 times between April 26, 2019 and October 23, 2019.

Earlier, Citizen Lab reported that Roman Giertych and prosecutor Ewa Wrzosek were under surveillance with the help of Pegasus. Researchers have not been able to pinpoint who exactly is behind the spying.

On Wednesday the Prosecutor General and Justice Minister, Zbigniew Ziobro, stated that the Polish state, just like other countries, may use such tools. “Of course, only in accordance with the law, if there are grounds for it, on the basis of legal procedures.”

The Justice Minister also stated that he “has no knowledge of any illegal activities in this area in Poland”.

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