In just a few days, the government in Serbia went from the fact that the police do not have a sound cannon, through threats that they will prosecute anyone who spreads "such deceptions" and "disturbing the public", to admitting that the police do have sonic devices, but that they have never used them.
The sound cannon has become a burning issue in the public - from revolted citizens, the NGO sector, lawyers and opposition politicians, everyone wants to get accurate information about what caused the roar and then the stampede on March 15.
Strasbourg seeks the truth
The situation has culminated, and now the European Court in Strasbourg is on the move.
Namely, the European Court of Human Rights asked the Republic of Serbia to answer questions about the possible use of sonic weapons at the protest in Belgrade.
In the announcement submitted by the Belgrade Center for Human Rights, it is stated that Serbia has been given a deadline to March 31 this year, declare whether illegal means were used against the demonstrators, what is the legal basis for the alleged use of such weapons and what are the protection measures against the arbitrary use of such means.
In the submission sent to the Court in Strasbourg for the imposition of temporary measures, civil society organizations pointed to the fact that the silence for the victims in Novi Sad was violently interrupted by the use of "a still unknown and dangerous sonic or other similar means, which caused bodily harm, great anxiety, panic and stampede of the gathered".
It is added that more than 4.000 citizens of Serbia contacted those organizations and testified about what happened and reported a number of health problems, bodily injuries, physical and psychological problems and/or symptoms.
The Court in Strasbourg also asked the citizens who addressed the Court to, until March 31, 2025, provide specific information, especially regarding the health condition and health consequences they have suffered.
What can the court in Strasbourg do?
Marko Milanović, professor of international law at the University of Reading and former vice-president of the European Association for International Law, explains for "Vreme" what measures the court in Strasbourg can impose in this case and what the consequences may be for Serbia.
"Decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, including those involving some temporary measures, are binding on Serbia and are made on pursuant to Article 39 of the Rules of Procedure court," he explains
As he adds, "in practice so far, Serbia has more or less respected such decisions. Until now, decisions were mostly made in cases where a person is threatened with deportation."
The consequences that Serbia can bear if it does not comply with the court's decisions are, first of all, that the court determines in a judgment that a violation of the decision has occurred and therefore demands additional compensation for damages. Another consequence is that the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe leads the further discussion on the case.
"This committee can determine that Serbia does not respect its obligations as a member of the Council of Europe. If, in the case of the use of sonic weapons, Serbia does not provide complete and correct information, the court will impose the necessary measures. The European Court will by no means be satisfied with an incomplete statement of two paragraphs."
Urgency of the procedure
Milanović adds that the public must bear in mind that this is a very urgent procedure, and that this type of procedure is very rare.
Precisely because of the urgency, the non-governmental organizations directly appealed to the court in Strasbourg, usually the last instance in legal procedures, to which the case comes only when all the possibilities of the national judicial authorities have been exhausted.
"Cases of this kind of topic and of this much political sensitivity are not something that the court has dealt with in its practice on many occasions. We cannot predict the court's decision, but Serbia must respect that decision."
He concludes that even if the court in Strasbourg does not pass any measure, it does not necessarily mean that there is no room for further work on the case, nor that there was certainly no use of sonic weapons.
Vučić: "We have nothing to hide"
During that time, the President of Serbia claims that in Brussels on Tuesday he conveyed to the highest officials of the European Union (EU) that at the protest in Belgrade on March 15 "there was no use of a sound cannon" and that the Serbian authorities are ready for the EU to check it.
After a working dinner with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, Antonio Kosta, Vučić said that the government in Serbia "has nothing to hide."
"I told my hosts that there was no sound cannon, that we are ready to check it in every way and that we will also provide an answer to the European Court of Human Rights, regardless of the fact that it is not prohibited for use anywhere in Europe," said Vučić.
Vučić said that "Serbia is ready for any kind of process" and accused the non-governmental organizations that approached the European Court of "participating in an attempt at a colored revolution in Serbia."
He also announced that the FSB (Russian Federal Security Service) will come to Belgrade "in two to three days", and that he hopes that "the FBI (American Federal Bureau of Investigation) will also come in seven or eight days" to further investigate the use of the sound cannon.
This announcement was strongly condemned by Savo Manojlović, the leader of the "Let's Change" movement, with the argument that it is completely unacceptable to interfere with foreign security services, whose role, he says, is to take care of their own interests.
"Serbia is a member of the UN, the Council of Europe and the OSCE, as well as a signatory to international treaties, so it is normal for them to conduct an investigation, as requested by 600.000 citizens in a petition," Manojlović said in a statement.
"Time" from day one investigates what happened in Ulica Kralja Milana. We received a number of testimonies about what happened, but the question still remains unsolved - what caused the panic among the participants of the protest in Belgrade on March 15.
Read about all this in the research in the next issue of the weekly "Vreme" from Thursday March 27.
