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Poland: Investigation into previous government’s use of Pegasus spyware could be blocked

The probe, which was supposed to be conducted by a parliamentary commission, was one of the promises of Poland’s new ruling coalition led by Donald Tusk when it came to power in December 2023.

In February 2024, a special parliamentary commission was established to investigate the use of Pegasus, which, according to Poland’s current justice minister, was used on almost 600 people between 2017 and 2022. Those targets included opponents of the Law and Justice (PiS) government.

Subsequently, Zbigniew Bogucki, a Polish MP and member of PiS, led a group of MPs to introduce a resolution against the probe.

In their motion, the PiS MPs claimed that the vaguely defined scope of the commission’s activities rendered the investigation unconstitutional.

On September 10, 2024, Bogucki announced that the Constitutional Tribunal (TK), Poland’s Supreme Court, ruled the investigation unconstitutional.

“Therefore from the moment the judgment is announced, this commission must cease its activities,” Bogucki said on X.

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However, Magdalena Sroka, the head of the commission and member of the Polish People’s Party, quickly rejected the ruling, arguing that it lacks legal validity.

She claims this is due to the involvement of a judge appointed illegally during the previous PiS government and because the TK operates under the influence of the former ruling party’s political agenda.

“We all knew what the tribunal’s ruling would be before it was made. This means that the Constitutional Tribunal has once again carried out a political order. The attempt to block the commission’s work is dictated by the fear of liability. Rulings involving understudy judges are not binding,” she added.