February 15, 2019
Newly uncovered evidence going back to 2015 suggests that the Ukrainian white nationalist Azov movement has been systematically co-opting American right-wing extremists to advance the former’s own international agenda. In audio statements uncovered by Bellingcat, this agenda was summarized by the International Secretary of the political wing of Azov, the National Corps, as “world conservative…
February 14, 2019
Bellingcat previously confirmed that a third GRU officer was present in the UK during the time Sergey and Yulia Skripal fell into a coma, after what the UK authorities said was a deliberate poisoning with Novichok. In addition, Bellingcat established that this same officer traveled multiple times to Bulgaria during 2015, including a trip days…
February 12, 2019
All times appear as local time UTC-6. Human rights organizations and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have, in recent years, become aware of the importance of open source information for documenting and investigating potential war crimes and crimes against humanity. Even the International Criminal Court (ICC), in an August 2017 arrest warrant against Libyan general Mustafa…
February 11, 2019
By Robert Evans
For the past two years, the city of Portland, Oregon has been terrorized by a series of increasingly violent clashes between Patriot Prayer, a right wing protest group, and several antifascist groups. The most vicious of these conflicts occurred on June 30, 2018; what started as a Patriot Prayer rally descended into a riot. Five…
February 7, 2019
By Bellingcat Investigation Team
Bellingcat has determined that a third Russian GRU officer, who was in the United Kingdom at the time of the Skripals’ Novichok poisoning in March 2018, arrived in Bulgaria just days before a local entrepreneur and his son became seriously ill after being poisoned with an unidentified substance. The third man, a 45-year-old Russian travelling…
February 7, 2019
As the Syrian Civil War enters its eighth year, previously overlooked ethnic and religious groups, and the divisions and alliances between them have garnered more coverage and analysis. After years of war and the break up of traditional loyalties, groups that were previously suppressed by the Syrian government have been able to reach out to…
February 7, 2019
This is a joint publication with Czech medium Houpací Osel. In November 2018, Andrej Babiš, the Prime Minister (PM) of the Czech Republic, came under heavy pressure as thousands of protestors took the streets and demanded his resignation. Days earlier, on November 13, 2018, the Czech media outlet Seznam Zprávy interviewed Andrej Babiš Jr., the…
January 30, 2019
By Bellingcat Investigation Team
At a Monday press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, the Ukrainian Security Agency (SBU) announced that it had intercepted passenger manifests from Russian MoD-chartered airliners transporting mercenaries working for Wagner, a Russian private military company (PMC). The manifests, involving flights from Russia to several African and Middle-East destinations in the latter half of 2018, allegedly transported a total…
January 25, 2019
All times appear as local UTC-5. On January 17, 2019, at 9:32 AM, an SUV loaded with 80 kilograms of pentolite exploded inside the Escuela de Cadetes de Policía “General Francisco de Paula Santander (General Francisco de Paula Santander Police Cadet School, ECSAN), the Colombian National Police academy located in southern Bogotá, killing 21 people…
January 25, 2019
By Italian Arms
Turkmenistan is among the world’s most repressive countries, and is largely closed off to the outside world. When it comes to press freedom, only North Korea and Eritrea are rated worse. The president and his associates have total control over all aspects of public life in Turkmenistan. Yet the country is nonetheless a major buyer…
February 19, 2019
By Aric Toler
In September 2018, the Russian website FindFace was taken offline in order to provide “solutions tailored for government and business”. This site received international press for its accuracy in its facial recognition accuracy, with a focus on finding someone’s profile on the Russian social network Vkontakte (VK). Recently, a new site has emerged from the…
February 19, 2019
By Dan Kaszeta
There has been a recent investigation here on Bellingcat, of a poisoning incident in Bulgaria in April 2015, where an individual named Emilian Gebrev was posioned. An angle of this investigation has been to see if it is at all connected to the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal. One particular aspect of recent publicity has…
February 14, 2019
A Case Study, Featuring the Electoral Roll of the Kyrgyz Republic When conducting digital investigations, using the tools already made available by the government can be a real help. Let’s use Kyrgyzstan as an example here. You may be looking for a witness or even a suspect in a crime, but you only know the…
February 1, 2019
By Brenna Smith
In recent years, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have been used by terrorists to conduct funding campaigns, authoritarian governments to subvert its citizens’ human rights, and GRU agents to hack the Democratic National Committee as well as the Clinton campaign. Though many people utilize virtual currencies for legitimate purposes, the technology is an enticing tool for…
January 4, 2019
By Justin Seitz
URL previews are a nice feature found in most messaging applications. They allow you to paste a URL to a friend or colleague, and have a handy miniature view of the website you are about to view. The downside is that a lot of applications generate these previews without you knowing what is happening behind…
January 4, 2019
By Bellingcat Investigation Team
Update: The Toronto workshop is now full. If you are interested in being added to the wait-list for any of our future workshops, please send a message to workshops@bellingcat.com Bellingcat will hold a series of workshops in Europe and the United States in early 2019, where participants can learn the tools and methodologies used by…
December 28, 2018
Bellingcat is recruiting a candidate to both conduct digital investigations and work as a trainer in workshops teaching open source research and verification skills across the world. Candidates should demonstrate a track record in producing open source investigations, would preferably have some experience as a trainer or teacher, and must be willing and able to…
November 21, 2018
Geolocation is crucial in open source investigations. In countries in conflict and/or countries under dictatorship, verifying evidence on the ground can be difficult. Video and photographic materials make it possible to have a working knowledge of events occurring out of reach — and it is always important to geolocate such materials. Cameroon, for example, has…
November 20, 2018
Gross Salary – 70,000 to 90,000 Euros per year Place of work – Remotely, then The Hague Start date – Immediate, based on availability Duration – 1 year minimum Bellingcat is currently seeking a Business Director to manage the day to day operations of Stichting Bellingcat, and play a key role in the long term…
November 19, 2018
Identifying changes in infrastructure is an important task for those of us surveilling areas for investigative purposes. Satellite imagery can show evidence of everything from the destruction of buildings, the erection of temporary structures, as well as newly constructed permanent facilities. This kind of information is important for analysis of events in conflict areas, as…
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