S&D MEPs from the civil liberties, justice and home affairs committee (LIBE) will hold high-level meetings in Rome, Italy, on Friday 30 May, to assess the latest development of the Paragon spyware scandal.
S&D MEP Sandro Ruotolo, will lead the mission, with the participation of S&D vice-president Ana Catarina Mendes, and S&D coordinator in the LIBE committee Birgit Sippel. Also present will be Green MEPs Saskia Bricmont and Leoluca Orlando.
On Friday morning, the mission will meet victims of Paragon spyware, including Giuseppe Caccia, Don Mattia Ferrari, Luca Casarini, Francesco Cancellato and Ciro Pellegrino. This will be followed by a meeting with representatives from the National Federation of the Italian Press (FNSI), the Trade Union of RAI Journalists (USIGRAI), and the National Council of the Order of Journalists. Afterwards, MEPs will hold a discussion with Amnesty International and its Digital Human Rights Network.
On Friday afternoon, the mission will visit the Italian Parliament for a discussion on the Paragon scandal with deputies including Lorenzo Guerini, President of the Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Italian Republic (COPASIR), Debora Serracchiani, Stefano Graziano and Angelo Bonelli. Later, the mission will meet Prefect Vittorio Rizzi, Director General of the Department of Information for Security (DIS).
To conclude the mission, media are invited to attend, in person, a press conference with S&D MEP Sandro Ruotolo at 17:30 in the Italian Parliament (Palazzo Montecitorio, Sala Stampa Camera dei Deputati- Via della Missione 4, Rome, Italy). Interpretation will be provided in English and Italian. Other members of the mission will also take part.
Notes to editors
It is reported that 90 individuals, including journalists and civil society, have been targeted with spyware owned by Paragon Solutions. Several known victims are based in Italy.
Paragon Solutions had a client relationship with the Italian government, but has since terminated that relationship.
The Italian government is reported to have approved the surveillance of activists by Italian intelligence services using Paragon spyware, under the authorisation of the competent judicial authority. In contrast, the targeting of journalists with such spyware would violate the European Media Freedom Act, which comes into force in August.
In May, during a hearing in the European Parliament’s LIBE committee, a representative of Citizen Lab - an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto - confirmed that journalist Francesco Cancellato was targeted by mercenary spyware.
