Opponents among them?

Pis government allegedly monitored politicians

Poland's government, which has since been voted out of office, is said to have spied on hundreds of people (symbolic image).(Bild: APA/Herbert Pfarrhofer)

Poland's PiS government, which has since been voted out of office, is alleged to have spied on 578 people. The Public Prosecutor General's Office accuses it of using the Israeli spy software Pegasus between 2017 and 2023. An investigative committee is currently looking into this (see video above).

The national-conservative PiS government, which was in office until December, may have monitored political opponents. A corresponding report for parliament was published on Tuesday. The Pegasus software, which is said to have been used, exploits security vulnerabilities in smartphones to gain far-reaching access to data. It can also be used to eavesdrop on conversations. 

Pegasus was first reported in 2021. Authoritarian governments around the world in particular had used the surveillance software on a large scale against members of the opposition, media professionals and critics.

Who wiretapped whom in Poland?(Bild: APA/Herbert Pfarrhofer)

No stopping at its own ranks
The PiS government is said to have spied on a total of 578 people. According to the Polish media, there are indications that prominent politicians from within its own ranks were not spared.

31 people who are believed to have been targeted are to testify before the public prosecutor's office. These include MEP Krzysztof Brejza, who is a member of Prime Minister Donald Tusk's liberal-conservative Civic Coalition. He was responsible for his party's election campaign before the 2019 parliamentary elections.

In addition to Brejza, a public prosecutor who had criticized judicial reforms and a prominent lawyer were also allegedly spied on. PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski denied the allegations at the time.