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Justice Initiatives

The Reckoning Project focuses on preserving the integrity of evidence through specific interview techniques and storage of collected testimonies within secure databases. We are constantly collecting and analyzing testimonies, strategically assessing jurisdictions, conducting legal research, and engaging with relevant authorities and prosecutors to pursue perpetrators of human rights abuses.

The following features are based on witness testimonies collected by the TRP team. 

PRESS RELEASE

Launch of TRP Report on Russia’s Violations of International Law

By

The Reckoning Project

INSIDE THE EFFORTS TO TRY RUSSIANS FOR UKRAINE WAR CRIMES—IN ARGENTINA

In a country long traumatized by torture, Putin’s victims hope to get their day in court.

By

Janine di Giovanni

"THEY DIDN’T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING, BUT JUST SPOILED PEOPLE’S LIVES"

How Russian invaders unleashed violence on small-town residents.

By

Anne Applebaum and Nataliya Gumenyuk

INSIDE PUTIN'S TORTURE CHAMBERS

Occupied Ukraine is a world of beatings, electrocution, and endless pain.

By

David Patrikarakos

PROPAGANDA, IMPUNITY, DESTRUCTION, AND NOTHING BUT RECURRENCE:
RUSSIA’S VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW IN CHECHNYA, SYRIA, AND UKRAINE

A Report by The Reckoning Project to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of Non-Recurrence Regarding the Russian Federation

By

The Reckoning Project Legal Team

TRP VIDEO FEATURED AT US HOUSE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE HEARING

The House Foreign Affairs Committee featured a TRP video in their hearing on Russian war crimes on April 19.

By

TRP in partnership with Public Interest Journalism Lab

RUSSIA ATTACKED A UKRAINIAN SHOPPING MALL WITH A MISSILE. THE WAR HASN'T BEEN THE SAME SINCE.

An assault on a mall was part of a series of air strikes targeting civilians and could possibly be ruled a crime against humanity.

By

Sabra Ayres and Nadia Burdei

VLADIMIR PUTIN'S INHUMANE BLUEPRINT TO TERRORIZE CIVILIANS IN CHECHNYA, SYRIA - AND NOW UKRAINE

A year into the war, a veteran conflict reporter presents a withering assessment of the Russian leader’s strategy of systematic carnage in three decimated cities: Grozny, Aleppo, and Mariupol.

By

Janine di Giovanni

PRESS RELEASE

Torture in Occupied Ukraine: The Reckoning Project files a criminal complaint in Republic of Argentina

By

The Reckoning Project

INSIDE THE BASEMENT WHERE AN ENTIRE UKRAINIAN VILLAGE SPENT A HARROWING MONTH IN CAPTIVITY

When Russia invaded Yahidne, residents were forced into a basement for nearly a month, living in poor conditions.

By

Svitlana Oslavska

AN INSIDE VIEW OF A DEADLY ATTACK ON A UKRAINIAN RAIL STATION

Survivors detail how a Russian missile strike disrupted the evacuation of civilians from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

By

Nataliya Gumenyuk and Olena Nizhelska

“DAD, YOU HAVE TO COME—OR WE WILL BE ADOPTED!”: ONE UKRAINIAN FAMILY’S HARROWING WARTIME SAGA

Three children survived the siege of Mariupol, forced relocation, their father’s horrific detainment, and their own exile—to Russia.

By

Iryna Lopatina

Our Strategy

Strategy

"You have a court of law and you have a court of public opinion.
The Reckoning Project brings these two toget
her.” – Ibra
him Olabi

 

Witness statements are a cornerstone of any accountability procedure.

They must, however, adhere to strict legal standards to be used as evidence in different accountability pathways, including a court of law. Our unique legal strategy combines the skills of reporters and lawyers by gathering and processing evidence in a way that is good enough for courts of law, without compromising the storytelling and the human element.

TRP has submitted an Article 15 complaint to the International Criminal Court regarding Russia’s forced deportation of children, and we are committed to supporting prosecutors with evidence. TRP has also been cited in the latest OSCE Moscow Mechanism report.

Our Process

Process

Mobilizing, Training, and Deploying Investigative Researchers 

The Reckoning Project trains frontline journalists to collect evidence and testimonies via interviewing skills, evidence handling, international law, and understanding crime and trauma. Evidence collected in line with legal standards increases judicial admissibility. To give the Ukrainian people back their sense of justice, we work solely with Ukrainian journalists.

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Archiving and Verifying Evidence 

The evidence and testimony collected by researchers will be verified using Open Source Intelligence by our partners at the Stanford University Starling Lab. The evidence is encrypted, codified, archived, and then formatted with lawyers for use in court.


Building and Supporting Legal Cases 

Our legal team searches for patterns within collected verified testimonies. We engage with and submit select TRP-coordinated cases to international and domestic legal, judicial, and quasi-judicial bodies. We also leverage our relationships with several NGOs that focus on other types of evidence, providing them with the human element they need in the cases they lead. Finally, TRP provides guidance to victims and their families as they start the process of litigation under the International Criminal Court or universal jurisdiction.

The Reckoning Project Methodology

Methodology

We are governed by the Do No Harm Principle and the Berkeley Protocol. We focus on individuals, stories, and testimonies, and the human element of crimes.

 

Evidence is collected in real-time or shortly after an atrocity occurs. The Reckoning Project's interview methodology ensures we do not contaminate evidence. We ensure witnesses genuinely consent to be interviewed. We ask open and non-leading questions, conduct interviews free of coaching, and when appropriate we often return to speak with witnesses repeatedly.

 

Our research teams are acutely aware that the testimony of a traumatized witness won't be admissible in court. All researchers at The Reckoning Project are trained in recognizing trauma and ensuring re-traumatization does not occur while a witness tells their story.

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