Original article (in Serbian) was published on 23/6/2026; Author: Stefan Janjić
Did citizens complain to doctors about hearing problems immediately after the protest held on March 15 last year, or did they wait three days for that? The Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor of the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office (VJT) in Belgrade, Miodrag Marković, said in an interview with Tanjug that “it is very symptomatic that the first patients appear only around March 18”, which several media reported as a “fact”. However, FakeNews Tracker, after reviewing the media archive and talking to two citizens, determined that this is not the case.
From university raids to apartment raids
The return to the “sound cannon” affair happened after VJT published a statement on June 19, stating that a raid of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade found the records from the January 2025 student plenum, where, among other things, the sound cannon was mentioned. With the express help of the Serbian broadcasting corporation (RTS) – which prepared a special show for the same evening – the thesis was presented: the document proves that the “sound cannon” was a planned diversion, i.e. a simulation organized by the students in order to gain international support.
On the same day, students in the blockade publish a statement in which they claim that the found document was created before a large protest at Autokomanda (Belgrade), and that security risks were discussed in general at the aforementioned plenum, including “sound cannons, water cannons, tear gas, and other means of coercion.” Vanja Bajović, a professor at the Faculty of Law, told N1 that the announcement by VJT is “totally legally unfounded” and that it contains no information at all about the “method of committing the crime”.
The VJT announced that they will prosecute “everyone who is found to have prepared, organized, realized and then spread in the media and social networks the narrative about the alleged use of a ‘sound cannon'”, and few days ago – precisely in this context – we saw the news about the raid on the apartment of military analyst Aleksandar Radić. Taking into account these circumstances, as well as the possible arbitrariness in assessing responsibility for “spreading the narrative”, we decided not to reveal the names of our interlocutors in this analysis.
When did citizens complain to doctors?
The thesis that the citizens waited for March 18 to complain to the doctors is refuted by the media reports from March 16, which were published not only on N1 and Nova, but also in Informer. It was stated on that portal that “arrogant kids occupied the Emergency Center”, complaining of “ringing in the ears, headache, fainting”. In the previous days, the testimony of Marko Samardžić, a former member of the Serbian national team in volleyball, was also published. He said that after the controversial event on March 15, “he had eight heart defibrillator shocks, ended up receiving treatment, and went through a very difficult period.”
The case of a man from Novi Sad and a woman from Belgrade
We spoke with two people who confirmed that they had already consulted the doctor on March 16. A man from Novi Sad told us that the day after the protest, he went to the “Jovan Jovanović Zmaj” Health Center because of hearing problems and headaches. According to him, there was quite a crowd there, so he waited for about an hour and a half for the examination. In the meantime, he talked to several people from Novi Sad who came to the doctor for the same reason. In the end, he states that the doctor, in addition to the symptoms, also wrote down the context of the events that preceded the appearance of the symptoms.
We also spoke with a woman from Belgrade who, in addition to hearing problems, also had physical injuries due to the stampede that occurred. She also provided us with an official note about her address to the First Primary Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade, where she states that she was in Kralja Milana Street during the 15-minute silence. She further explained that she heard a terribly loud sound, a “whistle”, which she associated with the landing of a jet plane. When the people started to run away, they pushed her onto the planter, as a result of which she suffered a back injury. She was transported by car to the emergency center, where, in addition to the injury, she also complained of headaches, tremors, and the urge to vomit.
According to the note, the next day she went to the hospital in Zemun, where she complained to the doctor that she could not hear well and that she felt ringing in her ears, and then she was referred to the ENT clinic at Clinical Center Zvezdara, where, it says, she received a certificate of hearing damage. Later, in July, according to this woman from Belgrade, she was recommended to wear a hearing aid in both ears at the Dr. Žutić Special Hospital. She told us that she doesn’t hear well even today. Dozens of citizens shared similar experiences within the project available at zvuk.labs.rs.
All these testimonies prove that the claim of Miodrag Marković from VJT that “it is very symptomatic that the first patients appear only around March 18” has nothing to do with the truth.
A “fact” that it is not a fact
A number of media outlets republished Tanjug’s interview with Miodrag Marković. His thesis that “immediately after the event, there were no reports of injuries” was qualified as a “fact” in the agency’s text, and it was reported in that format by RTV, NIN, B92, Novosti, Novi Sad reporter, Pink, and Kurir in their June 22 print edition.
