Sopot Mayor Jacek Karnowski was targeted by Pegasus spyware, says Gazeta Wyborcza

Gazeta Wyborcza, a Polish liberal daily which is highly critical of ruling nationalists Law and Justice (PiS), reported that the phone of Jacek Karnowski, mayor of the Baltic seaside resort of Sopot, was hacked in 2018-2019, when he was working on the opposition's campaign for elections to the upper house of parliament, the Senate.

It said that his number appeared on a list that it had access to as part of the investigative journalism initiative the Pegasus Project.

"We will not allow the PiS machine to further destroy democracy, lead Poland to the East and sovietise our country," Karnowski said in a statement sent to Reuters. "The politicians who inspired and commissioned these activities belong in prison."

The leader of the largest opposition party - Civic Platform, Donald Tusk said that many people the government dislikes had been spied on with the use of the Pegasus system. "We don't know how many were under classic surveillance," he added.

"First they attacked the courts to be able to steal with impunity, then they attacked the media so that no one would find out about it, and finally they attacked the opposition with wiretaps and repression so that no one could hold them accountable," Tusk said.

Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller told private broadcaster RMF FM that he did not know about actions taken by special services concerning specific individuals, but that no laws had been broken.

"No actions that would break legal regulations took place," he said. "I was assured of this by the services."

He added that he would like Karnowski or anyone to present evidence that the government was spying on them. "So far, I have seen a report by some organization from outside of our country that claims so. I may just as well tell you today that you're being wiretapped by Donald Tusk," Muller told the journalist leading the conversation.

PiS spokesman Rafał Bochenek was also asked about the issue on Friday. "I don't trust Gazeta Wyborcza," he replied, assuring that all services in Poland were acting in accordance with the law.

A spokesman for the Polish security services could not immediately be reached for comment.

Senior figures in the PiS government have previously confirmed that it bought the sophisticated spyware, but denied that it had been used against political opponents.

Reports in 2021 by the Associated Press that the software, developed by Israel-based NSO Group was used to hack the phones of government critics, including a senator for the largest opposition party, have drawn accusations that security services are eroding democratic norms.

Israel has come under global pressure over allegations that Pegasus has been abused by some foreign client governments to spy on human rights activists, journalists and politicians.

NSO has said it cannot confirm or deny any existing or potential customers for Pegasus. It said it does not operate the system once sold to its governmental customers nor is it involved in any way in the system's operation.