Charges over the use of Pegasus software have rocked Poland in recent weeks in a scandal that has drawn comparisons to the Watergate scandal investigation that led to the resignation of US President Richard Nixon in 1974.

Once installed in a mobile phone, Pegasus allows access to messaging and user data, but also to activate the device remotely to capture sound or images.

"It would be bad if the Polish services did not have this type of tool," Jaroslaw Kaczynski, president of Law and Justice (PiS) and deputy prime minister, told the weekly Sieci.

Asked about accusations that the government used the software to spy on the opposition, Mr. Kaczynski replied that the program was "used by the agencies to fight against crime and corruption in many countries".

In the interview, which is to be released in full on Monday, he stressed that any use of these methods was "still under the control of a court and the prosecutor's office."

He also rejected the opposition's accusations, saying they were "making a lot of noise about nothing".

Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity monitoring lab headquartered in Canada, has confirmed the use of Pegasus against three people in Poland, including Krzysztof Brejza, senator from the main opposition party, Civic Platform (PO) , while coordinating his campaign during legislative elections in 2019.

"Iceberg"

John Scott-Railton, principal researcher at Citizen Lab, claimed that the detected uses of Pegasus were only "the tip of the iceberg" and that its use indicated "an authoritarian slide" in Poland.

According to Mr. Brejza, the hacking of his phone influenced the result of the ballot, won by PiS.

Mr Kaczynski rejected his accusations saying the opposition "lost because they lost".

"No Pegasus, no service, no secretly obtained information of any kind played any role in the 2019 election campaign," he said.

These accusations "are shocking but not surprising. They raise serious concerns not only among politicians but also in the whole of Polish civil society", reacted for its part Amnesty International in a statement Friday.

The NGO called for "a global moratorium on the export, sale, transfer and use of surveillance equipment, until a strong regulatory framework that complies with human rights is put in place."

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli NSO Group, owner of Pegasus, said it was only sold "to legitimate law enforcement agencies who use these systems as part of warrants against criminals. , terrorists and corruption ".

© 2022 AFP