Sound Cannon: Prosecutors Deny BIA Wiretapped 154 Citizens
Belgrade's Higher Public Prosecutor's Office rejected Nova.rs claims about wiretapping witnesses of the March 15, 2025 protest, in a dispute over a Supreme Prosecutor's Office commission report.
The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade (VJT) on November 14 denied claims that it ordered the Security Information Agency (BIA) to wiretap 154 citizens who gave statements about the alleged use of a sound cannon at the March 15, 2025 protest. The same day, the office issued a second statement with figures on its own workload, responding to what it calls unfounded attacks.
What does Nova.rs claim, and how does the prosecutor’s office respond?
Nova.rs published an article at 3:27 p.m. on November 14 saying that Chief Public Prosecutor Nenad Stefanovic ordered BIA to wiretap more than 150 people who had complained of health problems. The article cites a report by the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office commission dated November 10. The report itself, as Nova.rs relays it, does not use the word wiretapping. It says that in June 2026 BIA was asked for a
check of 154 citizens who gave statements about this event
including details of their ties to political parties and non-governmental organizations. The difference between wiretapping and a check is exactly what the prosecutor’s office builds its response on.
In its statement, VJT says the article contains inaccurate claims and that
in this specific case, the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade neither ordered nor proposed that the court order any measures, including that BIA “wiretap” 154 citizens
The office adds that it will explain the case in its response to the commission’s report, which is being prepared, and says the author deliberately published untruths “with the aim of targeting the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade and the chief public prosecutor.” Nova.rs also reports that Stefanovic, appearing on Newsmax Balkans, said that even after a year and a half of work there is no material evidence that a sound cannon was used in Belgrade on March 15, 2025.
What did the commission recommend?
The report of the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office commission, according to Nova.rs, proposes disciplinary proceedings against Deputy Chief Prosecutor Miodrag Markovic and prosecutor Aleksandra Stefanovic, as well as consideration of Markovic’s removal from office. The commission also found that the request to check citizens amounted to diverting the investigation, and that the search and other actions against military analyst Aleksandar Radic were disproportionate. Markovic’s public messages about prosecuting people who speak about the sound cannon were assessed by the commission, as Nova.rs reports, as
public criminalization of the constitutionally protected freedom of expression
VJT rejects these findings. We previously reported on the disciplinary complaint Stefanovic filed against Stamenkovic. On November 10, Stefanovic filed a criminal complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime against Goran Ilic, chairman of the supervisory commission, for abuse of office and obstruction of justice. According to the VJT statement, Ilic told him in his office on October 30 that he should resign.
What does VJT say about its own workload?
In its second statement of November 14, VJT says it currently works with 75 prosecutors, about a third fewer than the prescribed number. From February 2024 to May it worked with 58, and at the end of May with 51 prosecutors. In 2025 it opened 19,151 cases, and 4,333 remained unresolved at year’s end. In 2026, through November 9, it opened 16,202 cases, half of which have been resolved.
What about the arrest warrant for Radic?
The Higher Court in Belgrade, at VJT’s request, ordered detention for Aleksandar Radic and issued a warrant, following a criminal complaint by the Interior Ministry (MUP) for preparing offenses against the constitutional order and security and for disclosing classified information. Radic left Serbia at the end of June. On November 15, Group 46 of the Forum for Security and Democracy called on the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office to seek withdrawal of the warrant and allow him to return. In the appeal, open for signing by email, they state:
G46 notes that, following the publication of the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office commission report, it has become evident that the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade was grossly politically instrumentalized in order to settle scores with political opponents and to suppress civil and political freedoms during the term of Nenad Stefanovic as chief public prosecutor
In its November 14 statement, VJT announced that its response to the commission’s November 10 report is being prepared and will explain the sound cannon case.
