Cristina Rubio Barcelona
Barcelona
Updated Friday, January 26, 2024-18:14
The first interrogation of the former head of the National Intelligence Center (CNI), Paz Esteban, in court has been tense and difficult. Tense after yesterday the Government sent to the magistrate the Supreme Court orders that authorized the secret services to spy on the Catalan president's cell phone with Pegasus, arguing that he was the leader of the CDR. And difficult due to the technical problems that have delayed the statement for a couple of hours with the State Attorney's Office, the investigating judge, the prosecutor and the Republican's team of lawyers present.
The interrogation was supposed to take place at 12:00 p.m. via videoconference and did not begin until 1:45 p.m. Paz Esteban testified for around an hour by videoconference from the Madrid courts in a difficult appearance due to the tension between the parties, according to knowledgeable sources.
The reason is that the appearance of the former head of the CNI was held just a few hours after the content of the Supreme Court rulings that authorized the intervention of Aragonès' cell phone with the Pegasus program, between July 2019 and March 2019, was revealed. 2022; and that the Government dissociates itself from this case despite it occurring with Pedro Sánchez in the Moncloa.
The secret services did not ask to use Pegasus on Aragonès's cell phone because of his status as vice president of the Generalitat, but because of his role in "direction and coordination" of the activities of the CDR, coinciding with the protests against the procés ruling
and
the months later.
Therefore, the interrogation of Esteban, the first Government official charged in the Pegasus case, has taken place in the midst of controversy due to the first leaks and with the Government distancing itself from the case.
At the exit, the Catalan president's lawyer, Andreu Van den Eynde, refused to make statements after the warning that judicial processes are reserved.