Greek wiretapping victims sue spyware firm Intellexa for damages

ATHENS, July 7 (Reuters) - Eight victims ‌of a ​Greek wiretapping ​scandal have sued the Athens-based surveillance firm Intellexa SA and individuals believed to be linked to it, seeking €1 million ($1.1 million) each ‌for moral harm, their lawyer said on Tuesday.

The affair, dubbed "Predatorgate", emerged ⁠in 2022 after a financial journalist and a centre-left political party leader said that they ‌had been subject to state ‌surveillance with the phone malware Predator, Intellexa's flagship spyware product.

The case led to the sacking of the head of the EYP state intelligence service and ​the prime minister's chief of staff. Traces of Predator were later found in dozens of phones.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' centre-right government has denied any ⁠political involvement in the wiretapping, calling the monitoring of a political opponent's phone a mistake and saying ​it was not aware of the incident before it happened. It survived a vote of no confidence on the matter in ​2023.

In February, a court found Intellexa's Israeli ‌founder Tal Dilian and three others guilty of breaching personal data confidentiality in 2020–2021. Each received prison sentences totaling 126 ⁠years and eight months, with actual time capped at eight years, pending appeal.

Dilian said in March that the conviction was unfounded and that he would not be a scapegoat. ⁠He said the surveillance technology had been sold only to governments, and that they were ​responsibile for how it was used. An appeal hearing is set for December.

Now eight people whose phones were found to be infected with Predator have filed a suit against ‌Intellexa and 13 individuals including Dilian, their lawyer Zacharias Kesses said on Tuesday, adding that more lawsuits would follow.

Each plaintiff ‌is seeking €1 million in moral damages for "the unlawful violation of their private life, ⁠the confidentiality of their communications, and ‌their personal data," Kesses ​said. The case is due to be heard in April.

($1 = 0.8752 euros)

(Reporting by Yannis Souliotis; Writing by Renee Maltezou; Editing by ‌Kevin Liffey)

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