Eight victims of the wiretapping scandal in Greece known as “Greek Watergate” or “Predatorgate” have sued the Athens-based surveillance company Intellexa and 13 people associated with it for damages, including Intellexa founder Tal Dilian. This was reported by the Reuters news agency on Tuesday. Intellexa’s sophisticated Predator spy software was found on the cell phones of the eight plaintiffs.
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The plaintiffs are each demanding one million euros in compensation for non-material damages due to the “unlawful violation of their privacy, the confidentiality of their communications and their personal data,” according to their lawyer Zacharias Kesses. According to Reuters, the case is scheduled to be heard in April next year.
A major wiretapping scandal
The surveillance scandal came to light in the summer of 2022 after the then leader of the Greek opposition party Pasok, Nikos Androulakis, was informed that his smartphone had been infected with spyware Predator while he was a member of the European Parliament. The Greek government later admitted that Androulakis was being monitored by the Greek secret service EYP, but spoke of classic telecommunications surveillance.
It gradually emerged that dozens of politicians, business people and journalists were being spied on via their cell phones. The scandal ultimately led to the resignation of the EYP chief and a senior adviser to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Sanctions and convictions
In 2023, the US government imposed sanctions on Intellexa. The company’s espionage tools pose a threat to US national security, the responsible department of the US Department of Commerce justified the move. The tools would also threaten the privacy and security of individuals and organizations around the world. At the beginning of 2024, the US government tightened its approach and, for the first time, imposed sanctions on leading figures in the spyware company, including Dilian and his business partner Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou.
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In February, a Greek court sent Dilian, Hamou and two other defendants behind bars for several years for illegal wiretapping practices and data protection violations. Dilian, a former Israeli army officer, said the surveillance technology was sold exclusively to governments. They are responsible for the use of the spying software. The convicts appealed; the appeal hearing is scheduled for December.
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