WARSAW, Dec 29 (Reuters) – Polish prosecutors said on Wednesday they would not examine an allegation that the cell phone of a higher-profile governing administration critic was hacked, amid accusations that opposition figures have been issue to illegal surveillance.

Studies that refined spy ware formulated by the Israel-based mostly NSO Group experienced been applied towards govt opponents which include prosecutor Ewa Wrzosek have led to accusations that distinctive companies are undermining democratic norms.

Wrzosek, a member of the team Lex Super Omnia which campaigns against what it says is the politicisation of the public prosecution assistance underneath the Regulation and Justice (PiS) get together, gained a notification in November from Apple that her cellular phone could have been hacked using NSO Group’s Pegasus software.

This thirty day period, the Connected Press claimed that the Citizen Lab venture at the College of Toronto located Wrzosek was just one of 3 Polish authorities critics whose phones had been hacked.

“The only indicator that a cyberattack could have occurred … was a information from the telephone’s producer,” Aleksandra Skrzyniarz, spokeswoman for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw, reported in a assertion detailing the refusal to examine the case.

“On the other hand, the concept did not categorically state that a cyberattack experienced transpired, but contained a disclaimer that the alert could be untrue,” Skrzyniarz said, including that Wrzosek experienced refused to hand more than the mobile phone for assessment.

Wrzosek informed private broadcaster TVN24 that she would appeal from the conclusion.

“I do not see the slightest legal prerequisite or justification for the final decision to refuse to initiate this procedure,” she stated.

Polish security expert services do not comment on the strategies they use or whether or not they have investigated distinct men and women. Nevertheless, spokesman Stanislaw Zaryn has denied any suggestion that Polish expert services had been engaged in domestic political battles.

Primary Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has dismissed solutions that spy ware was made use of by Polish providers from opposition figures as “phony information”.

NSO states it would make technology for use by governments and regulation enforcement businesses to beat crime and terrorism, and has safeguards to reduce misuse.

Digital legal rights researchers say Pegasus has been employed to spy on civil culture in a number of international locations.

Reporting by Alan Charlish and Anna Koper Modifying by Giles Elgood

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