Serious violation of privacy and freedom of the press

The spying on at least one journalist of ELMUNDO by the Ministry of the Interior of the last Government of the PP was an intolerable violation of fundamental rights for which those responsible must respond to Justice. As reported yesterday by Cadena Ser -without citing his name or this newspaper-, the Ministry of Jorge Fernández Díaz tracked the mobile phone of journalist Fernando Lázaro, after August 8, 2015 he published the holding of a meeting at the Ministry

between Díaz and Rodrigo Rato, Aznar's vice president and already accused in several proceedings. The goal was to discover the source of our partner.

"The minister is very nervous about this issue," reads one of the whatsapps intervened between the then Secretary of State for Security, Francisco Martínez, and the head of the Central Unit of Operational Support of the National Police, Enrique García Castaño. "Just look at calls," the commissioner wrote. "I'm going to look at him those days." García Castaño is a key part of the

:

of numerous citizens without judicial authorization; Among them, at least three other journalists. The Interior also investigated journalist Juan Nieto Ivars for his publications in ELMUNDO on the corruption of the PP in Valencia.

The espionage known now is one more episode of the very serious actions of the Interior, from whose dome it was conceived

Precisely to prevent this newspaper from fulfilling its founding purpose: to denounce the abuses of power, reporting on popular corruption and the links of the former treasurer

. Hence, the creation of this network with reserved funds, and destined to steal from Bárcenas the documents that could compromise the PP, started when we published the most relevant exclusives of the case.

Anticorruption requests for the former minister 15 years in prison for the crimes of concealment, against privacy and embezzlement. The same accusation weighs on the former secretary of state, and another 12 and a half years on García Castaño. All of them must be respected the presumption of innocence. The decision to spy on a journalist deserves, in any case, the maximum repudiation, although it is not the first time that ELMUNDO is subjected to this type of harassment.

, also in the hands of the PSOE, from the GAL to the Faisán or Roldán cases. Whoever had the duty to safeguard the security of citizens violated their fundamental rights.

Freedom of information is the core element that distinguishes an open society from a totalitarian or autocratic regime. And it does not belong to any government, not even to the press, but to all citizens.