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Citing “mounting evidence” that spyware has been used for illegitimate purposes by several Council of Europe member states, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has urged five governments to provide information on their use of such spyware within three months, and fully investigate all cases of abuse, PACE reported.

Approving a resolution on Pegasus and similar spyware and secret state surveillance, the Assembly 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 resolution, based on a report by Pieter Omtzigt (Netherlands, EPP/CD), also called on other member states which 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.

Amnesty International said earlier this year that at least 12 Armenian public figures, including journalists and human rights defenders, were targeted with Pegasus spyware.

Amnesty International’s Security Lab found infections of two journalists from the Armenian branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL): Karlen Aslanyan and Astghik Bedevyan. Other victims included Artsakh's former Ombudsman Ruben Melikyan, former Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan, former Human Rights Defender Kristinne Grigoryan, Assistant Professor and Turkologist Varuzhan Geghamyan, Samvel Farmanyan, co-founder of ArmNews TV, a United Nations official, and others.