The High Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade (VJT) has announced that, based on a “comprehensive review of the gathered evidence”, it has determined that on 15th March 2025, during the student protest along the stretch from Terazije, down the entire Kralja Milana Street towards Slavija Square, a “panicked chain reaction of citizen movement” took place.
The prosecution states that the cause of this movement was not the use of a so-called “sonic cannon”, nor any similar device, and has also announced the criminal prosecution of all those who “intentionally caused and contributed to the spread of false information.”
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić stated on 12th September that the sonic weapon case was an “ordinary lie” and that the sound in the footage published on social media after the student protest was “subsequently doctored”.
Vučić announced that evidence will follow in the coming days during his inspection of the construction work on the Vožd Karađorđe high-speed road near Mladenovac.
What is in the prosecution’s analysis
The prosecution announced that, in cooperation with other state bodies, it conducted a detailed analysis of all relevant events, data, facts, testimonies, and evidence regarding the alleged use of a “sonic cannon” at the unannounced public gathering of citizens on 15th March 2025 in Belgrade.
The gathered evidence, they stated, provides grounds for suspicion that “certain individuals” in public “intentionally and premeditatedly spread disinformation” about the alleged use of a so-called “sonic cannon” or another similar device.
“Unidentified individuals altered the original audio and video recordings made at the time of the fifteen-minute silence and publicly published them in that altered form, so that the processed recordings contain a specific ‘hum’ that leads citizens to think that a device producing such a sound was indeed used, and how these actions led to months of panic and public distress,” claims the VJT.
The prosecution determined, the statement reads, that on 15th March 2025, neither in Kralja Milana Street nor at any other location where the protest rally was held, was a “sonic cannon” used—meaning an acoustic device of the LRAD type, or any other means of similar characteristics.
This is confirmed by official correspondence and statements from the BIA [Security-Information Agency], the Ministry of Defence, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as by the manufacturer of this device, the Genasys Company, in a statement dated 20th March 2025.
“The analysis determined, among other things, that the cause of the chain movement of rally participants first originated in front of the National Assembly, specifically by the marshals’ sudden decision to activate the ‘withdrawal protocol’, which soon led to a sharp withdrawal of citizens from the middle of the carriageway at the aforementioned locations,” claims the VJT.
The key moment was the removal of vests and the marshals running towards building facades.
Using the “sonic visualiser” software tool, recordings featuring the unusual “hum” were compared with an identical video recording posted on several Facebook accounts, on which “exclusively the sound of whistles and crowd commotion can be heard, in the absence of any unusual sound such as a ‘hum’.”
“Bearing in mind the aforementioned evidence, the statements of citizens given to the First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade and the police, their medical reports, as well as the content of the video recordings from the protest rally contained in the case files, it has been determined that the health complaints reported by citizens to medical institutions after the critical event cannot be attributed to the consequences of the alleged use of the so-called ‘sonic cannon’ or devices of similar characteristics,” the prosecution assessed.
Everything indicates that the reported health complaints represent consequences typical of larger gatherings, it is added.
More than 150 people contacted the prosecution, of whom 113 submitted medical reports regarding injuries, whilst tens of thousands of people were present. “Had a sonic cannon truly been used, everyone at the scene would have felt the consequences,” say the VJT.
They state it was determined that neither marshals nor police officers present at the scene securing the rally reported any health complaints to medical institutions following the protest, which “could reasonably be expected” given that they were practically at the centre of all events.
In conclusion, they assessed that the allegations made by the submitters of criminal charges, reports in certain media outlets, and statements by other people regarding the alleged use of the so-called “sonic cannon” were inaccurate.
“Since it has been determined that such devices were not used, that consequently no person can acquire the status of a suspect due to their use, that the harmful consequence potentially caused by their use has automatically been absent, which means the elements of no criminal offence prosecuted ex officio have been fulfilled, the prosecution has concluded that there is no room to initiate criminal proceedings against any person in connection with the alleged use of the so-called ‘sonic cannon’ or another similar device,” stated the VJT.
According to them, there was also distress and the engagement of the international community, which also invested resources to check whether such a device was genuinely used in Serbia, due to which they announced first the identification and then the “criminal prosecution of everyone who intentionally caused and contributed to the spread of these untruths.”
What happened on 15th March
During the 16-minute silence at the protest on 15th March 2025, an unusual sound was heard, eyewitnesses claim, causing the mass of people standing in Kralja Milana Street in central Belgrade to split into two sides.
The day after this event, everyone was talking about the sudden interruption of silence, and the question was raised as to whether a “sonic cannon” had been used.
This was the largest gathering during months of demonstrations demanding accountability for the collapse of the canopy at the Novi Sad railway station on 1st November 2024, when 16 people died and one young woman was seriously injured.
Government representatives initially claimed they did not possess a sonic cannon, and it was later presented to the public.
They consistently rejected claims by the opposition and representatives of the student movement that state structures used sonic weapons against the assembled citizens.
“This was a premeditated and organised attack on the state with the aim of provoking absolute instability and the violent overthrow of the order,” claimed the then President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić.
The opposition Party of Freedom and Justice (SSP) filed a criminal complaint against responsible officials “due to the use of illegal sonic weapons against peaceful citizens” at the protest in Belgrade on 15th March, they announced.
The First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade was the only one investigating the “sonic cannon” after the Prosecutor’s Office for Organised Crime (TOK) previously withdrew from acting on this case.
(BBC Serbia, Naslovi.net, 14.09.2026)