The Catalan National Assembly appeared this Tuesday before the Inquiry Commission on the infiltration of state police forces in the social, political and grassroots movements of the Catalan Countries and on espionage using spyware by the Kingdom of Spain. Assemblea denounced serious violations of fundamental rights committed by Spain against the Catalan pro-independence movement. Representing Assemblea, Antoni Maria Gavarró described the covert police infiltrations and mass surveillance using spyware such as Pegasus and Candiru as practices “incompatible with the founding values of the European Union”, violating Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Right to Privacy.
Gavarró recalled that at least 65 individuals were victims of illegal surveillance between 2015 and 2021, including elected representatives, activists and their relatives. Six of those targeted were members of Assemblea. He also denounced five cases of police infiltration in Catalan social movements between 2020 and 2022, some involving personal relationships with activists, all without judicial oversight.
The Assemblea representative reiterated the organisation’s commitment to exposing Spain’s human rights violations at the international level. Together with UNPO, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, Assemblea has raised these issues before multiple international bodies and forums — highlighting Spain’s failure to comply with the recommendations of the European Parliament’s PEGA inquiry committee and of UN Special Rapporteurs, who in January 2023 expressed serious concerns over the Catalangate scandal and demanded answers from the Spanish government.
In July 2024, Assemblea submitted a new complaint to UN Special Rapporteurs denouncing terrorism-related accusations against Catalan activists. In October 2024, Assemblea submitted a report to the UN as part of Spain’s Universal Periodic Review, denouncing the criminalisation of the Catalan independence movement, and of the unlawful surveillance. Another report was also submitted to the UN Human Rights Committee for the review of Spain’s implementation of the ICCPR. On that occasion, former Assemblea president Elisenda Paluzie and UNPO Secretary General Mercè Monje took part in a formal NGO meeting with UN experts, presenting the report’s key findings and answering questions about the Pegasus surveillance.
Finally, Gavarró underlined that all these practices “violate rights guaranteed by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, such as freedom of expression, privacy, association, and non-discrimination on grounds of ideology.”
To conclude, Assemblea called for several immediate measures:
- Effective public oversight of intelligence services.
- Legal ban on covert police infiltrations without specific judicial authorisation.
- Full investigation and moratorium on Pegasus and other spyware technologies.
- Creation of a fund to help victims cover the costs of phone analysis and legal proceedings.