According to a statement by the Spanish National Court, the case was reopened following a request for collaboration by the French justice system, through the issuance of a European Investigation Order (EIO).

This request includes data related to a 2021 investigation into "multiple infections [with Pegasus] of phones belonging to journalists, lawyers, public figures, and governmental and non-governmental associations, as well as members of the French government, ministers, and deputies," the statement reads.

The judge overseeing the case in Spain believes that the information provided by France could "allow the investigation to progress" and will proceed with new inquiries.

"All of this will allow for joint and coordinated action by the French and Spanish judicial authorities with a view to determining the authorship of the infection carried out through the Pegasus spyware program in both France and Spain," the judge stated, as quoted in the statement released today.

The Pegasus program, developed and marketed by the Israeli company NSO, has already been used to spy on more than a thousand people in 50 countries, including activists and journalists, according to security experts and a 2021 journalistic investigation by media outlets from several countries.

In France, the country's President, Emmanuel Macron, and several ministers were spied on with Pegasus.

In Spain, the government revealed in May 2022 that the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, had been spied on by the same 'software', in an "external attack" whose perpetrator remains unknown.

The Spanish justice system investigated this case for almost a year before deciding to shelve it due to lack of cooperation from Israel.

According to today's statement, the French authorities have requested information from the company NSO and have addressed requests for judicial cooperation to Israel and the United States.

In addition to the case involving members of the government, there is another one in Spain, still under investigation, related to Catalan separatists who were spied on with Pegasus.

The spying on 18 pro-independence Catalan politicians, with judicial authorization, was confirmed by the former head of the Spanish secret service, Paz Esteban, who was dismissed from her post by the government in 2022.

In December, the Spanish parliament approved the creation of a commission of inquiry into the Pegasus espionage, as a result of agreements between the socialists and pro-independence parties to make Pedro Sánchez's latest government viable.

Read Also: Council of Europe platform calls for an end to the use of Pegasus spyware (Portuguese version)