Earshot report says use of sonic weapon highly likely

Earshot, a not-for-profit organisation producing audio investigations for human rights and environmental advocacy, said in a comprehensive report that “it is highly likely that protesters were subjected to a targeted attack using a directional acoustic weapon”.

“The conclusions of the report contradict claims made by the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation and Serbian authorities, that the disturbances were caused by crowd-generated sounds such as pyrotechnic and incendiary devices,” Earshot said in an X post.

In the conclusions to its report following a comprehensive investigation, Earshot the use of a highly directional sonic weapon against the crowd is highly likely.

It said that its conclusions are based on the facts that:

- Witnesses demonstrated clear analytical capacity during the event: they were able to distinguish between different sounds and assess their surroundings, contradicting claims that the panic was triggered by crowd-generated noise or otherwise explainable acoustic triggers, such as fireworks.

- While the FSB report states that the crowd movement “can only be achieved through coordination by organisers within a crowd and is not possible with a brief use of a special device.”, Earshot’s findings demonstrate how this claim is demonstrably false when reviewing the capacities of the LRAD 450XL in its user manual. This device was known to both be present that night and to be in the possession of the Serbian police.

- A high level of consistency and cross-corroboration was observed across the 15 earwitness interviews and the 3,244 written statements. This consistency enabled the reconstruction of the anomalous sound heard during the vigil.

- The absence of the sound on recorded devices could indicate, rather than disqualify, the use of an LRAD-like device given the specific and patented mechanisms by which it propagates sound from its speaker array.

Taken together, these findings refute key claims made in the FSB report and substantiate the testimonies of thousands of people present that night, demonstrating that it is highly likely the protestors have been subjected to an attack by a highly directional acoustic weapon, the Earshot report said.