BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Spyware from an Israeli company was used to target the phone of the rector of the Belgrade university who has played a prominent role in nearly two years of protests against Serbia 's populist leader Aleksandar Vucic, a digital rights group said on Monday.
The Balkan country is holding a tense election this weekend that is seen as a showdown between the protesting student movement and Vucic, who is seeking to extend his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party’s 14-year rule.
In September, digital rights groups reported that at least 14 activists and students had their phones hacked and infected with spyware, including NSO Group’s Pegasus.
The Citizen Lab group, which carries out forensic analyses of spyware attacks, said in a statement that it could confirm with "high confidence" that Vladan Djokic's phone was infected with Pegasus spyware in 2026.
The group said it carried out an analysis in cooperation with Serbia-based SHARE Foundation, also a digital rights group.
A separate analysis is underway to determine whether the phone of associate prosecutor Rade Bajic was also hacked. Bajic worked on alleged corruption surrounding a real estate project linked to U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law, which was later canceled. Bajic received an Apple Threat Notification on his phone in August.
Djokic on Instagram described the phone hacking as a “serious attack on my privacy, security and the integrity of the post of rector.” He added that this was “yet another attempt of intimidation designed to prevent any critical position and public action.”
There was no immediate comment from the Serbian authorities. They have denied in the past they were behind such attacks, which were first reported in 2024.
Pegasus is spyware developed by the Israeli company NSO Group that can secretly infiltrate smartphones, allowing operators to read messages, track a user’s location and activate microphones and cameras. It can be installed through so-called zero-click attacks, which require no action by the phone’s owner.
The SHARE Foundation said that without an effective investigation, accountability and a message that unlawful surveillance is unacceptable, "there is a serious risk that digital repression will continue and spread further, reaching every part of society and every critical voice.”
The student movement on Sunday warned that their meetings were being monitored and alleged that authorities planned to detain a number of their colleagues ahead of a major rally on Thursday. Police have not commented.
Scores of students have been detained in Serbia during protests for alleged anti-state activities. Vucic, without offering evidence, has repeatedly claimed that student protests have been organized from abroad to “destroy” the country.
Protests erupted in November 2024, after a train station canopy collapse killed 16 people. University students have demanded accountability for the tragedy in Novi Sad that they say was caused by graft-fueled negligence during renovation work on the train station.
Djokic has supported the protests as the head of the University of Belgrade, and has refused government pressure to end faculty blockades by the students in the capital. Police raided Djokic's offices in March, citing an investigation into a student's death.
Bajic, the prosecutor, was replaced after he spoke out about alleged corruption linked to the government's plan to turn the bombed-out former military compound into a luxury complex financed by a company linked to Jared Kushner. A government minister and several others who were charged in the case are on trial in Serbia.
Israel's NSO says its technology is sold to government agencies to combat serious crime and terrorism. But investigations by journalists and human rights researchers have documented its use against journalists, activists and other members of civil society.
The U.S. Commerce Department placed NSO Group on its trade blacklist in November 2021, citing evidence that foreign governments used its spyware to target journalists, activists and government officials. The designation restricts the company’s access to U.S. goods and technology.
Supporters of the Students List stage a protest in front of Serbia's Election Commission headquarters in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)
Belgrade University rector Vladan Djokic watches university students collect signatures in support of their demand for an early parliamentary election, in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Voters in Canada’s oil-rich Alberta province were deciding on Monday whether to begin a process that could lead to independence, testing national unity as Canadians rally against President Donald Trump’s trade war and threats to claim Canada as the 51st U.S. state.
Monday’s vote is not a direct referendum on independence. Alberta, home to most of Canada’s proven oil reserves — the fourth largest in the world — will decide whether to remain a province or begin the legal process toward a future referendum on separation.
More than 1.35 million Albertans, or 43% of eligible voters, cast advance or special ballots ahead of the referendum, far exceeding the 810,000 who voted early in the 2023 provincial election. Polls close at 8 p.m. local time, with results on the independence question expected in the hours afterward.
But even if Albertans reject the proposal, separatist leaders say the movement has transformed a fringe cause into a force in provincial politics and is not going away.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney urged Albertans not to take the outcome for granted. He asked for a decisive result in favor of unity in his home province.
“Vote like Canada’s future depends on it because it does,” Carney told a pro-Canada rally Friday in Edmonton, where he grew up.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who called the referendum despite opposing independence, cited a poll showing just 22% support for separation, a figure she said was still too high.
The vote also comes as Alberta reels from a grass fire that suddenly shifted into a military training exercise at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright, killing four service members and injuring 39, including 19 critically. Carney described it as one of the worst peacetime tragedies for Canada’s military on domestic soil.
The biggest cheers Carney received at rallies in Calgary and Edmonton came when he spoke about diversifying Canada’s trade away from the United States. The applause showed how Trump’s trade war and annexation threats have fueled Canadian nationalism even in traditionally conservative Alberta.
Liberal prime ministers have long faced resentment from Albertans over federal energy policies, but Carney has emerged as an unusually popular figure by backing policies more friendly to fossil fuels, such as a proposed oil pipeline to the Pacific Coast.
Joining Smith in a show of unity against independence, Carney warned that the referendum comes at the “worst possible time” and urged Albertans not to use their votes merely to send Ottawa a message.
Smith, who frequently clashed with Justin Trudeau, praised Carney for improving relations.
“I think what we can agree on is that we have had some real change in the last 18 months,” she said Friday.
By calling a referendum she opposes, Smith acknowledged pressure from separatist activists within her governing United Conservative Party who helped bring her to power. Some of those activists helped oust former Premier Jason Kenney in 2022.
Kenney said separatism had traditionally been a fringe cause, with independence parties typically attracting only 1% or 2% of the vote. He said the pandemic mobilized activists angry over public health restrictions and government authority.
Separatist leader Jeff Rath said federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates drove him toward independence, while Tanya Clemens, co-chair of Let Alberta Decide, said pandemic restrictions spurred political organizing. Keith Wilson, the group’s other co-chair, was a lead lawyer for the 2022 trucker convoy that paralyzed downtown Ottawa for weeks in a protest against vaccine mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions.
Wilson argues that Alberta’s grievances go deeper. With much of Canada’s population concentrated in Ontario and Quebec, he said Liberal governments can win elections without significant support in Alberta, leaving the province vulnerable to federal policies opposed by its energy industry.
Wilson argues that Carney’s proposed Pacific Link pipeline illustrates the dysfunction, saying federal restrictions have discouraged private investment and could leave taxpayers financing the project.
At the same time, Wilson rejects Alberta becoming an American state.
“I have no interest in substituting a master, that rules over my children’s future, who’s in Ottawa, with a new one who’s in Washington,” he said.
Other separatist leaders have sought contact with the Trump administration. Rath and fellow independence advocates met three times with U.S. State Department officials in Washington to discuss Alberta’s future.
Chief Sheldon Sunshine of Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation condemned those meetings, calling them “absolutely treasonous to the people of Canada, people of Alberta.”
Sunshine said Alberta cannot leave Canada without First Nations’ consent, citing treaties that predate the province — and said his nation would remain part of Canada even if Albertans vote for independence.
No matter the outcome, the referendum campaign has generated unprecedented discussion about Alberta’s place in Canada, Wilson said.
“I think we’ve already hit success when you look at the voter turnout,” he said. “People are engaged and people are talking about this topic at a level that’s unprecedented historically.”
Rath said he would be thrilled if 30% of Albertans vote to begin the separation process. He wants Smith ousted as UCP leader and said the party could splinter, potentially creating a new pro-independence political party.
Some Albertans hope Monday’s vote ends the debate and heads off a prolonged independence struggle like Quebec’s.
Dave Malka, a 59-year-old Edmonton government worker attending a pro-Canada rally Sunday, criticized spending money on what he called a “referendum on a referendum” when the funds could have gone toward healthcare.
With Trump threatening Canada, Malka said, “It seems to be happening at the absolute worst time when we should be united, instead we’re fighting amongst ourselves.”
Malka expects a decisive rejection but fears separatists won’t give up. “This is only the start of separation Armageddon, if you will. This is their starting point,” he said.
Jake Graham, 35, of Calgary, attended Carney’s rallies wearing maple leaf pants and a Canada hockey jacket, hoping voters will put an end to separation talk.
“I hope this squashes this for a long time to come and that it’s clear and decisive, that these grumblings disappear for a while and we can be a united Canada,” he said.
A supporter lowers his hat during a pro-Canada rally in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Sunday, Oct, 18, 2026. (Timon Johnson/The Canadian Press via AP)
A supporter holds up a sign during a pro-Canada rally in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Sunday, Oct, 18, 2026. (Timon Johnson/The Canadian Press via AP)
A supporter writes on a protest sign during a pro-Canada rally in Edmonton, Alberta, Sunday, Oct, 18, 2026. (Timon Johnson/The Canadian Press via AP)
A supporter carries a Canadian flag at a pro-Canada rally in Edmonton, Alberta, Sunday, Oct, 18, 2026. (Timon Johnson/The Canadian Press via AP)
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, center, greets people at a Forever Canadian rally in Edmonton, on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (John Ulan/The Canadian Press via AP)
Jeffrey Rath greets speakers during an Alberta independence rally at the Alberta legislature in Edmonton Alberta, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026. (Amanda May Erickson/The Canadian Press via AP)
An attendee waves the Alberta flag at the crowd during an Alberta independence rally at the Alberta legislature in Edmonton Alberta, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026. (Amanda May Erickson/The Canadian Press via AP)
Forever Canada leader Thomas Lukaszuk, left, gives a speech during a pro-Canada rally in Edmonton, Alberta, Sunday, Oct, 18, 2026. (Timon Johnson/The Canadian Press via AP)
