The sonic cannon, or sonic weapon, as it is called, suspected of being used during the protests in Belgrade on March 15, was also used during the Romanian Revolution, former Romanian military chief prosecutor Catalin Ranko Pitu said in an interview with DW.
He has worked for six years on an investigation into the Romanian Revolution of December 1989, which led to the fall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Pitu claims to Deutsche Welle that the same technology was used at a large Ceausescu rally on December 21 in Bucharest, where the Romanian dictator wanted to convince citizens of the “correctness of his policies” and that the demonstrators, who protested in Timisoara, “do not want Romania to be well.”
"During this rally, Romanian soldiers from a specialized psychological warfare unit intervened with a tape recorder, which emitted low sound frequencies, and this caused the gathering to become disorganized," Pitu tells DW.
This moment marked the beginning of the Romanian Revolution in Bucharest as well. Just one day later, Ceausescu lost power and was executed on December 25. During the revolution, 1,200 people were killed and around 4,000 were seriously injured, A2 reports.
“The technology has advanced, but the principle is the same,”
Pitu spoke to hundreds of witnesses and experts in the field of military technology during his investigation. The description of the chaos caused by the sound waves, he says, is reminiscent of scenes from Belgrade.
"Hundreds of people felt physical pain and were in a state of total panic for several minutes," says Pitu. Serbian citizens who spoke to DW testified that they first heard a short, unusual noise, felt a shaking sensation that caused a sense of imminent danger, which alarmed them and caused them to flee in panic.
Although the technology has advanced greatly in the last 35 years, Pitu says the principle of use has remained the same: it is used as part of "psychological warfare."
“In my opinion, what happened recently in Belgrade can be explained by the use of manipulation technology by exposing the masses to specific waves of this voice,” says Pitu.
Recognition came 30 years later
The truth about who used the sound system on Romanian counter-protesters in 1989 only came to light 30 years later. During the investigation, Pitu spoke to soldiers from a special psychological warfare unit, who admitted to using a technique that involved manipulating the crowd through sound.
But he was unable to prove where the order for use came from. “But it is logical that the order came from the head of the Romanian army himself, because it was a kind of extraordinary manipulation, not just anyone could have done this,” says Pitu.
He is convinced that in Serbia too, such an order should have come from the authorities. “It should be the government – be it the army or the Ministry of Internal Affairs, because not everyone can have that technology. Citizens of Serbia cannot have this technology. It is not that easy,” says the former Romanian chief prosecutor.
No evidence?
The Serbian government initially denied possessing such weapons. Two days later, opposition MP Marinika Tepic published a document showing that the Interior Ministry had received two types of sonic cannons. She also showed a photograph showing such a device mounted on a Serbian gendarmerie jeep.
Interior Minister Ivica Dacic later admitted that the Interior Ministry possesses so-called LRAD systems, but denied that they have been used.
"These systems are located in boxes in our warehouses," Dacic said.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić added that "various things" were purchased but never used. "If it is proven that such things were used, I will no longer be president," he said.
"No, nobody used it. And nobody has used it anywhere. You haven't shown me any evidence. And you don't have any evidence, because you can't find evidence for something that doesn't exist," Vucic said.
Can a case be opened with citizen testimony and the state's admission that it possesses a sonic cannon – but without any evidence of the use of the device itself? Romanian prosecutor Catalin Ranko Pitu believes this is possible.
Complex investigations
“But after that point, the investigation has to be much more complex,” says Pitou. “To start, you just have to talk to people and make sure that the manipulation was real. And as seen on television, it was real. Because you can’t run on the left and right side of a road at the same time without some kind of manipulation,” says Pitou.
However, he does not want to prejudge whether the use itself could also be a criminal offense, given that no one was seriously injured. This, he says, also depends on whether the use of these systems is regulated by law.
In Romania, the use of a sound system to manipulate the masses has become part of the so-called "Dossier on the Revolution" that aims to bring to justice the main figures of the events of December 1989. But this has only happened because it was a turning point in the Revolution where 1,200 people lost their lives," explains Pitu.
But even 35 years later, many families of the victims in Romania are still waiting for justice. The case is still in court./ DW (A2 Televizion)
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