WARSAW Reuters -- A Polish opposition senator who believes his phone was hacked using sophisticated spyware developed by the Israel-based NSO Group has accused the prosecutors of failing to act on the case, viewing it as a hot potato to be passed between offices.
The Associated Press AP reported this month that researchers at the University of Toronto had found that Senator Krzysztof Brejza was hacked using Pegasus software in 2019 during an election in which he was running the campaign of the largest opposition party.
AP also reported that the Citizen Lab project at the University of Toronto found Ewa Wrzosek, a prosecutor who criticised the government's judicial reforms, and Roman Giertych, a lawyer who has represented opposition figures, having their phones hacked.
All three believe that Poland's ruling nationalists, the Law and Justice PiS party, was responsible for the hacking.
Stanislaw Zaryn, a spokesman for Polish security services, said he could not comment on the methods used by Polish security services or whether services had investigated specific individuals.
He has previously said that any suggestion that Polish services were engaged in domestic political battles was false.
A PiS spokeswoman wouldn't say anything further. She said that the security services have commented on this topic.
Brejza told Reuters by phone that he and his wife had notified prosecutors about possible phone hacking in September.
Brejza said that the prosecutors' office is playing for time - they do not want to launch an investigation or refuse to launch an investigation, they just treat it as a hot potato that is best to throw somewhere else.
He said that the complaint had been passed between prosecutors' offices around the country without any effect.
The National Prosecutors' Office and the Prosecutors' Office in Ostrow Wielkopolski, which is currently dealing with Brejza's case, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The prosecutors' office has been politicized, according to government critics. Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, who is the architect of judicial reforms that the European Union says undermines the independence of courts, serves as a prosecuting attorney general.
The NSO Group says it makes technology for governments and law enforcement agencies to combat crime and terrorism and has safeguards in place to prevent misuse.
Digital rights researchers say Pegasus has been used to spy on the civil society in several countries.