The unanswered questions about the black spy van – Article by Valentinos Fakontis, AKEL MP for the Pafos district

 

 

Saturday 12 November 2022, “Haravgi” newspaper

The draft report of MEP Sophie In’t Veld, rapporteur of the European Parliament’s Committee of Inquiry (PEGA) looking into the use of Pegasus and similar spy software, has provided us with answers to old questions.

More specifically, the Report notes “the role of Cyprus as a central export hub for the surveillance industry, including the difference between legislation in force and implementation, the light sentences imposed in the Black Van case, the connections with the surveillance case in Greece, the allegations of wiretapping/surveillance in Cyprus and the close cooperation with Israel. Cyprus is an important European export hub for the surveillance industry”.

These facts emerged following a visit to Cyprus by a delegation of the PEGA Committee and meetings held at various levels. The questions are many and unanswered and all relate to the DISY-Anastasiades government.

How did the MEP’s come to these conclusions and the government says it has no idea? The findings are in Cyprus and only if one wants to can one search and find the end of the thread.

Unfortunately, the government is keeping silent and covering up [the scandal]. Either it is itself behind iy or it is engaged in covering up the matter for its “straw men” who have made Cyprus an “export hub” with all that this implies.

Surveillance/wiretapping constitutes a violation of citizens’ privacy and an illegal concentration of power in the hands of persons without constitutional and legal cover.

In a statement on the issue, AKEL raises in the public debate the most important questions, those which concern all citizens:

• Why doesn’t the Attorney General’s Office make public the findings of the criminal investigator into the black van case?
• Doesn’t the government realise how exposed it is by the fact that Assistant Attorney General should never have handled the case because of a conflict of interest?

AKEL is not complacent. Immediately after the announcement, through its Parliamentary Representative Giorgos Loukaides, it sent a letter to the President of Parliament, forwarding the request of our Parliamentary Group that the findings of the criminal investigator, Mr. Elias Stefanou, on the black spy van be submitted to Parliament.

The government has made Cyprus a centre for the expansion of the spying network in Greece through the companies of the Israeli agents who played a leading role in the black spy van case.

• What is the Anastasiades government’s response to the questions about the congestion in Cyprus of companies that have made our country a free-for-all?

This issue also concerns the President of the ruling DISY party, Averof Neofytou, personally, about their real relations with the Israeli agents Avni and Dillian.

• Until when will DISY President Averof Neophytou avoid providing answers regarding the revelations in the Cypriot and foreign press which directly implicate him in the scandal?

The Cypriot people deserve to know who and how many people organised, facilitated or covered up this network, because they represent a danger to the rule of law, democracy, human rights and our country’s national security.

We will continue to press with all our strength to get answers to the crucial questions we have raised and regarding the evidence recorded by the European Parliament’s committee, given that privacy and personal data are inviolable democratic and fundamental human rights.