Press freedom NGOs demand government accountability for Pegasus spyware attack on Meduza publisher Galina Timchenko

After Meduza publisher Galina Timchenko revealed that her phone had been infected with Pegasus spyware, developed by the Israeli cyber-arms company NSO Group, press freedom organizations are voicing concern over unaccountable use of spyware licensed exclusively to governments, supposedly for keeping tabs on dangerous criminals and terrorists.

The international non-profit Reporters Without Borders is calling on the German government to explain immediately who was behind the Berlin attack on Timchenko and why it had been sanctioned.

According to the NGO’s Managing Director Christian Mihr,

the German authorities must resolve this shocking situation quickly and comprehensively. There are many pressing questions here for Reporters Without Borders: How can it be that an exiled Russian journalist is spied on, possibly together with others, while supposedly safe in Germany? To what extent is the federal government involved in these surveillance measures and aware of them? What role do the German authorities play in monitoring media professionals — above all, the Federal Criminal Police and the Federal Intelligence Service, both of whom were proven to use Pegasus?

Berlin, where Timchenko’s phone was infiltrated, is also a frequent place of journalism conferences, the organization points out. This raises immediate concern over the media professionals’ continued ability to meet and talk without fearing surveillance, its statement says.

Similar alarm is expressed by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. According to Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, “this attack on Timchenko underscores that governments must implement an immediate moratorium on the development, sale, and use of spyware technologies.”

“The threat is simply too large to ignore,” Said emphasized.