BELGRADE (Reuters) – Russian investigators have found that sonic weapons were not used by Serbian authorities to disperse a mass protest in March, Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday, after Europe expressed concern over allegations of their use.
Last month, the Serbian authorities invited the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia, a close ally, to investigate what hundreds of anti-government protesters in Belgrade on March 15 said was a powerful sound that made them flee and incapacitated some of them.
Top officials from the EU’s executive Commission and rights organisations urged Vucic to investigate the alleged incidents, which would breach Serbian law. He pledged to look into it.
“A categorical conclusion can be made that the … type of acoustic devices owned by the Serbian police authorities were not used,” Vucic said in a televised address, citing the FSB report.
The protests against Vucic, a populist who has been in power as prime minister or president since 2013, have been the biggest in decades. Serbia’s parliament voted in a political novice seen as loyal to Vucic on Wednesday as prime minister after the protests led his predecessor to resign.
The Serbian authorities denied possessing such sonic devices, until Interior Minister Ivica Dacic admitted that police had bought Long-Range Acoustic Devices (LRAD) – used by law enforcement agencies and militaries in a number of countries, including the United States, Australia, Greece and Japan – from the U.S. in 2021. Police later said the devices had been bought to relay verbal messages to crowds.
Sonic weapons employ extreme sound to incapacitate targets. They can damage ears and cause headaches and nausea. Serbian law does not allow their use against civilians.
Vucic said he will seek criminal responsibility for those who accused authorities of using a sonic weapon and that the Russian report had indicated that unidentified black-clad people from the crowd had staged the incident. “Shame on you, you miserable liars,” he said.
Expert organisations said evidence about their use on March 15 were inconclusive, but suggested that an LRAD or an experimental vortex cannon could have been used.
Serbia balances its pro-Western policies and EU accession bid with ties with Russia, a traditional Slavic and Orthodox Christian ally. In March, Serbia’s former deputy-Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin said Russia’s spy services had helped Belgrade to try to thwart protests.
Vucic said he plans to take part in the festivities in Moscow to celebrate the May 9 victory parade with Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin.
(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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