Students in the blockade announced today that at least 14 academics, members of the "IT blockade" initiative, activists, one MP and one local councilor, were spied on with unauthorized software via their mobile phones.
At the first press conference since the start of the student protests, at the "Miljenko Dereta" venue in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, they stated that the spying on mobile phones had been forensically confirmed by certain international organizations.
"Their phones were attacked by one of the most advanced spyware programs in the world today. This software is only sold to states and someone has to be held accountable for it," said Ela Zeković, a student at the Faculty of Political Sciences.
According to her, such software reads every study, looks at every photo, can turn on the microphone and camera on a mobile phone, and their use is a criminal offense under Serbian law.
Student Jelena Kontić, who had the "Pegasus" software installed on her phone without her knowledge, said that it felt like "the phone was in their hands."
Kontić also recalled the cult film "Balkan Spy", but also said that today it is talked about as a real situation that is not from the film. She said that she was the first victim of "Pegasus" in 2026 and added that she is very active in the Student in Every Village working unit and the Student Movement's field campaign.
"The thing is, I've never been arrested or detained, which raises the question of why me? How is it possible that what I'm doing has led to someone monitoring or eavesdropping on me," she asked.
Ognjen Rašić, a student at the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš, said that he received a notification from Apple that his phone was the target of an attempted spying attack.
He stated that among the people who received similar warnings were members of the student movement and activists who were involved in local elections.
He said that they were involved in the elections as a way of supporting them to be conducted in accordance with the law, as much as possible.
"This, most likely, bothered the ruling party, so they were willing to spend millions to insert spyware into our devices," said Rašić.
Andrijana Ristić, a representative of the Sher Foundation, said that they had determined that at least 14 people were targeted by advanced types of spyware in early 2026.
"We can say that the targets in the majority of cases were members of the student movement, activists and local councilors from opposition parties," she said.
Ristić stated that the targeting period coincides with the campaign period for the local elections in March 2026.
According to her, the cost of using "Pegasus" is enormous, and this is, to their knowledge, the only case of infection with this spyware in 2026 in the world.
She stated that the other two cases are known as "NoviSpy" and that, as she said, the infection was carried out through direct access to the phone.
She stated that this requires the person to be brought to the police station, after which they are separated from the phone, and, as she said, the phone is illegally unlocked and the data is copied from it.
Then, Ristic added, spyware is installed, which runs in the background, collects data and sends it to the server.
"After that, the person is let go home with the infected phone," she said.
She also warned that the use of such software is a gross violation of the right to privacy, and that it implies unauthorized access not only to the data of the targeted person, but also to those with whom that person is in contact.
It was said at the press conference that the Prosecutor's Office's Department for High-Tech Crime, the Ombudsman, and the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection should react to all of this.
DS: Vučić personally ordered the use of "Pegasus" spyware for mobile phones against students
The Democratic Party (DS) today accused Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić of personally ordering the use of the "Pegasus" spyware for mobile phones against students and announced that it would inform the entire world about this state terror.
"This scandal most clearly shows what a state usurped by an unscrupulous tyrant looks like. Vučić has turned the police, security services, the prosecution, public money and the most dangerous surveillance technologies into weapons to preserve personal power and persecute anyone who opposes it," the DS said in a statement.
She added that she would contact the competent institutions to leave a written trail of who knew, who remained silent and who refused to act, and "when Serbia has institutions again, that trail will be evidence for establishing the responsibility of every orderer, perpetrator and accomplice."
"We will immediately provide all published findings to the European Union institutions, European partners, relevant embassies, international organizations and the world's media - from Israel, where Pegasus originated, to Canada, where Citizen Lab participated in the detection of the attack," the statement said.
They accused Vučić of sending the most dangerous means of state surveillance against students and added that the DS would make sure that the whole world knew about it and that it would forever be recorded who ordered this crime.
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