Serbia’s opposition party filed a criminal complaint on Wednesday against top state officials over the alleged use of a sonic weapon during a mass protest in Belgrade in mid-March.
The protest — Serbia’s largest in decades, drawing between 100,000 and 300,000 people — briefly descended into panic, triggered by an unexplained noise.
Footage shared on social media showed crowds fleeing in confusion, prompting claims that a sonic weapon or “sound cannon” had been used — accusations strongly denied by the authorities.
Several Serbian civil society organisations report having collected over 3,000 testimonies, with some protesters claiming they suffered lasting health problems.
The parliamentary opposition Democratic Party (DS) said their complaint also includes testimonies and medical documentation from people who reported health issues after being in the area where the incident occurred on March 15.
“Most complaints came from citizens reporting hearing damage, ringing in the ears, and headaches,” said DS president Srdjan Milivojevic at a press conference.
The complaint, submitted to the prosecutor for organised crime, named the Serbian president, the prime minister at the time, and the interior minister.
All three had previously strongly denied the allegations concerning the use of such a weapon.
Faced with photos of a police vehicle fitted with what appeared to be a US-made LRAD 450XL acoustic device, Interior Minister Ivica Dacic confirmed that police possessed such equipment, though he denied it was used during the protest.
“We demand that the police be immediately stripped of all acoustic and sonic weapons,” Milivojevic said.
On Wednesday, President Aleksandar Vucic again denied the use of a sonic weapon on March 15 and called such claims “another in a series of lies” targeting him.
The Democratic Party also filed a complaint over the Serbian authorities’ decision to invite Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) to investigate the alleged use of sonic weapons on Serbian territory.
Milivojevic stated that foreign services may only be contacted by judicial authorities “if the necessary expert analyses cannot be conducted by Serbian institutions and bodies.”
The Serbian government invited both the United States’ FBI and the FSB to investigate the incident.
While the FSB concluded that no sonic devices were used, the FBI has not commented on the request.
In early April, Serbian activists delivered a petition with over 500,000 signatures to the UN office in Belgrade, calling for an international investigation.
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