Responding to new findings by Citizen Lab that the device of former member of the European Parliament, Stelios Kouloglou, was infected with Pegasus spyware between October 2022 and March 2023, while he was serving on a European Parliament committee investigating Pegasus and other similar spyware, Elina Castillo Jiménez, Advocacy and Policy Advisor for the Security Lab at Amnesty International, said:
“The fact that Stelios Kouloglou’s device was infected with an intrusive form of spyware that only governments can procure, while he was actively involved in the parliamentary inquiry committee that was investigating spyware abuse by European countries, raises serious concerns about the integrity of independent oversight at the highest levels in Europe.
“The brazen targeting of someone in his position underlines how inadequate the current system is, and is yet another wake-up call that the protections that were put in place to prevent this kind of abuse are still not being implemented in Europe.
Elina Castillo Jiménez, Advocacy and Policy Advisor for the Security Lab at Amnesty International
“Three years ago, the European Parliament’s PEGA Committee on which Stelios Kouloglou sat issued clear and detailed recommendations for how to close the gaps that allow this abuse to continue. We are still waiting for implementation. Delaying it sends the wrong message about impunity in the surveillance industry.
