Curious to see how online open source evidence could be used in court? So were we, so with @GLAN_LAW and Swansea University School of Law we organised a mock trial featuring @EliotHiggins and @N_Waters89 and real QCs and a real judge to test it out.
The sessions was intended to test whether an open source video of an airstrike in Yemen could be submitted as evidence, and if the testimony of one of our investigators would be accepted by a court.
The intention was to test the open source investigation methodology we had developed as part of our Yemen Project, which we had applied to a number of investigations into Saudi air strikes in Yemen yemen.bellingcat.com
Yesterday the judge presiding over the mock trial delivered her decisions, and decided both the video evidence and the testimony of the witness was acceptable, demonstrating that online open source evidence and Bellingcat's analysis could be accepted in a UK court proceeding.
This is just the start of the process of examining the use of online open source investigation and evidence in courts, but it's an important first step, and one we plan to build on. More details of the judges decision will be released in due course.
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