As part of the “Sound Cannon Affair”, the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade wanted to arrest journalist and military analyst Aleksandar Radić for divulging secret information and attempting to subvert the constitutional order. In that name, VJT also published the personal data of journalists from N1, RTS and Beta, as well as members of the National Assembly and pilots of the Serbian Army who communicated with Radić on March 15. NUNS and the injured editor of Beta for “Vreme” say that the journalists were thus put a target on their foreheads
Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade filed criminal charges against journalist and military analyst Aleksandar Radić and requested detention and the issuing of a warrant on suspicion of divulging secret information and endangering the constitutional order, all in connection with “sound cannon”.
In its own statement, VJT used the opportunity to convey in detail the completely unpunished communication between journalists of different newsrooms in Serbia during the evening of March 15, 2025, during a large student protest where, according to the statements of many witnesses and experts, a “sound cannon” was used against peaceful citizens.
VJT reveals the initials and complete correspondence between Radić and journalists from N1, RTS and Beta, from which it can be seen that the journalists were actually doing their job – asking questions.
As there are not an infinite number of journalists from these newsrooms, it only takes a minute to find out who they are from the initials, which directly puts targets on their foreheads.
Wiretapping of journalists
“The VJT and the MUP have now openly announced to the public that they are eavesdropping on journalists and accessing our private communications, even on applications such as Signal, which are supposed to be safe and protected,” Vojkan Kostić, editor-in-chief of the Beta agency, whose data and message exchange appear in the announcement, told Vreme.
Željko Bodrožić, the president of the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia, told “Vreme” that “it is difficult to find words to describe how the state overcomes all borders and is heading towards total dictatorship”.
“Journalists are persecuted and arrested on the basis of conspiracy theories,” Bodrožić told Vreme. “The state apparatus completely abuses them to deal with people, and the goal is to intimidate journalists and the general public. Now it can happen to anyone that, based on a crazy construction, they are persecuted by the state authorities and that the police are on their heels.”
In the last year, he adds, “we see our regime going wild more and more and returning to the factory settings of Seseljev”, which Bodrožić compares to the last years of Slobodan Milošević’s rule.
“It is very important that we send messages of support to suspected journalists, because the state wants them to be harassed and lose their jobs,” adds the president of NUNS.
VJT odalo – a typical journalist’s working day
Although it is problematic that VJT revealed the identity of the journalist, Kostić does not see anything illegal in the correspondence.
“I just don’t understand what is disputed in journalistic matters, because we see that it is a classic journalistic duty – when something happens, you call people who are qualified to give an opinion on that topic. I would like someone to tell me what exactly is disputed in the exchange of messages on the Viber group,” he says.
Furthermore, the press release also presents the private data of members of the Parliament of the Republic of Serbia, as well as pilots in the Serbian Army. It is added that Radić is accused of “using his contacts with private persons employed in state bodies to collect information graded at different levels of secrecy and thus unauthorizedly obtained possession of secret data marked strictly confidential, confidential and internal”.
This is how the state has actually shown that it is spying and giving away private information about members of the Assembly, who have immunity from criminal prosecution.
“Citizens should be seriously concerned about the level of democracy and personal security in Serbia,” added Kostić.
Initials, details, hours
AR, it was announced in the press release of VJT, on March 15, 2025 at 20:24 p.m. communicated through the “Signal” application with a journalist from the N1 SK television station, who, after a short conversation, sent him a link from the social network “X” to a user profile called “Alef Pendule” on which the profile administrator announced: “What technology did you use and what was the goal of this intervention”, with an accompanying video from Kralja Milan Street, and told him to pay attention to 32nd second of the recording”.
In the statement, they point out that allegedly at 20:53 the suspect AR sent a message to the journalist that the sonic weapon used was an American non-lethal tool used for incapacitation, and that the purpose of its use was a brutal display of force and proof of arrogance.
“Then at 21:12 p.m. on the N1 portal, and then at 21:30 p.m. on the N1 television show “Direktno”, a text was published with the statement of the suspect AR about the alleged use of a “sound cannon”, which was the first media claim about the use of a “sound cannon” at the protest on March 15, 2025 in Belgrade,” it is stated.
In parallel with the described communication from March 15, 2025, it is added, the suspect AR communicated via the ‘Instant Messenger’ application with the People’s Deputy ZP on the subject of the use of the “sound cannon” so that in the continuation of the communication on March 16, the ZP asked him “What do you think, in the end, who activated the cannon?” to which AR replied: “I don’t know, I don’t have sources, but my first tip is Vulin’s paramilitary group,” says the Prosecutor’s Office.
Also, on March 15, 2025, at 20:56 p.m., the suspect AR communicated on the Viber group with RTS journalist GJ and the editor of the “Beta” agency VK, in which GJ wrote at 20:56 p.m. “They used a sonic cannon according to the NATO qualification Sonic weapon”, to which AR replied in the affirmative, the prosecution claims.
Who Actually Performs “Psychological Surgery”
“Parallel to the described communication, AR communicated through the application ‘Telegram’ with a Russian citizen VO who wrote to him in the period from 21:58 to 22:23 that in 2014 he used a “sound cannon” against Somali pirates and that it was not valid, where he first mentioned the term “infrasound” in connection with the said event. After that, the suspect AR wrote the term “infrasound” at 00:07 a.m. in a Viber group with the aforementioned journalist and editor. Since a photo of the alleged sound cannon in front of the House of the RS National Assembly was shared in the media and social networks, on March 19, 2025, at around 10:09 a.m., on the same Viber group, the suspect AR made a contradictory claim to his previous claims, so he sent the message “this is PSY OPS”, which should mean that it is a psychological operation,” it states and adds:
“Although the suspect AR was not present in Kralja Milana Street on March 15, 2025 in the afternoon, in his further public appearances he claimed to have information that a “sound cannon” was used, and after talking with VO he claimed that it was “infrasound”, so his further public appearance was aimed at claiming that the current government used an illegal device, but with the narrative that it was “shooting at the people” and that the intention was to injure the gathered citizens. The above was confirmed on the same day at 22:24 on the social network “Facebook” in a conversation with the journalist “Nedeljnika” A.Ć. to which he informed that he knew what means had been used. In a communication dated March 16, 2025 at 13:13 p.m. between suspect AR and RTS journalist GJ, disagreements arose, when GJ told AR that RTS asked him about the use of a “sound cannon” and that he said he did not want to guess and destroy his integrity, to which the suspect replied that he can destroy his integrity, because he has an ideological basis of fighting for the truth.
Lieutenant Colonel, pilot, students
They point out that in the period from March 15, 2025 to March 20, 2025, the suspect AR communicated intensively with the lieutenant colonel of the Serbian Army, DB pilot on the mentioned subject, mainly through the “Facebook” application, so that on March 18, the suspect AR expressed his suspicion that the “sound cannon” was at the Palace of Albania, to which DB replied that this was impossible, because the range of the sound cannon is up to 600 meters.
“After further communication, DB informed the suspect that there was definitely no sound, after which suspect AR expressed the opinion that it might be a ‘Vortex’ device, with which DB did not agree. Via the “Signal” application from March 17 to March 18, 2025, AR in the FDU group, whose members are students AM and MM in addition to the suspect, at one point made the claim that a weapon that emits infrasound was used and that it was a device ‘Vortex canon’ 1000Xi’, to which the student MM replied: ‘Do you know if we also have Vortex canon guns of smaller dimensions? Based on the analyzes done for us by doctoral students and professors, 1000Hí must be heard and it is impossible to generate infrasound,” they state and add:
“In the continuation of the communication, the suspect AR sent the FDU group an official statement from the First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade, to which he received a response from the student MM: ‘That’s great for them, they almost didn’t write anything wrong, because the sound cannon was not really used, because the vortex canon that was used was not a sound cannon, but a completely different thing that works according to a completely different principle, and the sound is just a side effect.’ weapons against the demonstrators, with which they tried to spin the public and correct the mistake that it was a sonic cannon, but an infrasonic weapon”.
Source: Vreme
