PACE urges Armenia to provide information on spyware use

A committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has called on five governments, including Armenia, to provide information on the use of spyware within 3 months.

PACE has adopted a resolution in which, in particular, it is noted that spyware has been used by several Council of Europe member states for illegitimate purposes.

Having approved a draft resolution on Pegasus and similar spyware and secret state surveillance, PACE has urged Poland, Hungary, Greece, Spain and Azerbaijan to promptly and fully investigate all cases of abuse of spyware, sanction any they find, and provide redress to victims.

The draft resolution also called on other EU member states that “seem to have acquired or used Pegasus – including Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands” to clarify their use of it, and the mechanisms in place to oversee it, within three months.

The committee said that since 2015, journalists, activists, politicians, lawyers and diplomats have been targeted by Pegasus in more than five dozen countries, including Armenia.16:19