Case summary
A joint project of Bellingcat and Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), leveraging open source evidence for legal action against atrocity crimes. Read more here.
The Justice & Accountability Unit (J&A Unit) was a unique partnership between open source investigators from Bellingcat and lawyers from Global Legal Action Network. The J&A Unit’s investigators received legal training to guide their research and follow a rigorous, co-designed methodology which was developed to meet criminal evidentiary standards.
The J&A Unit was a self-contained entity which was separated (‘firewalled’) from the rest of Bellingcat, ensuring that journalistic work and accountability work were conducted independently, preventing possible bias.
GLAN and Bellingcat Convene. An expert workshop convened by GLAN considered the potential for digital evidence to be used as evidence in legal proceedings. This resulted in a draft methodology for open source investigators one that struck a balance between being practical as well as robust.
Hackathon and Yemen project. To test and further refine the methodology an interdisciplinary “Hackathon” event is convened with objective of using the methodology while investigating alleged airstrikes in Yemen.
Methodology development. GLAN and Bellingcat continue to revise the methodology during the completion of further investigations into attacks causing grave civilian harm in Yemen.
A mock trial is convened to test our methodology in the context of an English court.
Justice and Accountability Unit launched with Bellingcat and methodology applied to online open-source investigations on Ukraine. Two reports launched.
Investigations and training
Early 2025: Major investigations and methodology development.
From July 2025 the J&A unit stopped operations. The work using open source evidence for justice and accountability purposes continues at GLAN with the DRAGNET project. Bellingcat continues to demonstrate the power of OSINT techniques can have in their investigative work.
Using Bellingcat’s pioneering investigative techniques and GLAN’s legal expertise, the J&A Unit worked to enhance legal accountability processes such that when victims and witnesses legitimately record the commission of atrocity crimes or their aftermath, that evidence can be relied on in court.
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