Overview

• The Juzgado de Instrucción 24 de Barcelona formally indicted ex-CNI chief Paz Esteban alongside NSO Group and executives Omri Lavie, Shalev Hulio and Yuval Somekh for alleged Pegasus spyware surveillance of ERC lawyer Andreu Van den Eynde.
• The court’s July 15 resolution cited a part-expert report and Citizen Lab documents demonstrating links between Pegasus and the targeted monitoring.
• This marks the fourth separate judicial probe into Esteban for alleged espionage of Catalan independence figures, including prior inquiries into Josep Maria Jové, Diana Riba and Pere Aragonès.
• Prosecutors must now seek a suplicatorio from the Council of Ministers to lift Esteban’s official-secrecy obligations and obtain her testimony.
• Human rights group Iridia, which filed the complaint, said the inclusion of NSO in the indictment represents the first time a Spanish court has probed the company’s role in Pegasus operations.