BIA Denies Pegasus Spying Claims Against Students
The security agency calls student allegations of Pegasus spyware attacks trivial sensationalism, while prosecutors say no such case exists in their records.
Serbia’s Security Intelligence Agency (BIA) issued a statement on September 3 addressing claims by protesting students that spyware had been planted on their phones, rejecting the allegations outright. The agency said it operates strictly within the laws of the Republic of Serbia and therefore never comments on content of that kind, and it accused those making the accusations of working in the interests of foreign services.
“This is plain, trivial sensationalism. The content of these claims clearly points to the true intentions of the individuals and organizations making them, namely working in the interests of certain foreign services and pressure groups. BIA operates strictly in accordance with the laws of Serbia, and therefore never comments on content of this kind,” the BIA statement reads.
What the students say happened
At a press conference, the protesting students described 14 documented cases in which spyware was allegedly planted on the phones of fellow students, associates, a member of parliament and a local councilor. According to them, one of the programs used was Pegasus, an Israeli product sold exclusively to state agencies. They say the findings were forensically confirmed by two independent laboratories, the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto and Amnesty International’s Security Lab, and that Apple sent the affected users its own warning about compromised devices.
“An attack on our privacy is not our weakness, it’s yours. We have nothing to hide. We are not criminals,” the students said in their statement.
Radomir Lazovic, a member of parliament and co-chair of the Green-Left Front, says he himself was targeted, along with 13 other activists and students, and that the software involved is military-grade and worth millions of euros. The Green-Left Front is demanding an independent and transparent investigation with the involvement of an international mission.
Prosecutors say no such case exists
The Prosecutor’s Office for High-Tech Crime told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that no case related to Pegasus exists in either its own records or those of the police. The SHARE Foundation, which carried out part of the forensic work, says no one from the prosecutor’s office has contacted them about these claims.
“We shouldn’t be concerned with what the president and BIA are saying, we have a Prosecutor’s Office for High-Tech Crime that has to do its job,” Andrej Petrovski of the SHARE Foundation told N1.
Andrijana Ristic, also of the SHARE Foundation, said at the press conference that “the targets were, in most cases, members of the student movement, activists and opposition party councilors,” and that the targeting period coincided with the campaign for this year’s March local elections. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic dismissed the allegations as absurd and said he did not know any of the people named. The European Union’s Delegation to Serbia said that surveillance of political opponents, if confirmed, would be unacceptable.
A new case in Nis
The protesting students announced this morning, September 4, that Apple warnings about a possible attack had also reached the private phones of two law students, a woman and a man, at the University of Nis. One warning arrived on May 14, the other on August 13. Their phones are undergoing further forensic examination, after which, according to the students, more details should become available.
Bill Marczak of the Citizen Lab had earlier established that one of the devices was hit by a so-called zero-click attack exploiting a vulnerability in the iMessage app, between December 2025 and January 2026. Software of this kind, as described by the SHARE Foundation, can access all communications, contacts, photos and files on a device, and can secretly activate the microphone and camera or record the screen. The SHARE Foundation says that alongside Pegasus, a new version of the domestic spyware NoviSpy was also used.
Srpske Vesti previously covered this story in connection with the reaction of the US Congress to allegations of spying on students and opposition politicians in Serbia. Now, with BIA’s denial and the prosecutor’s claim that no case exists, the question is who, if anyone, will further investigate the 14 or more reported cases.
