Project Dokaz
Safeguarding Digital Accountability for Ukraine in an Age of AI.
Доказ – “Proof” in Ukrainian
A collaborative civil society project leveraging resilient and secure decentralized technologies to document and preserve war crimes committed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Dokaz aims to support the building of novel evidence bases and their grounding in international law settings, so that in our uncertain world of changing technological landscape and evolving legal settings, the evidence of today may be preserved for the tomorrow.
Our team has submitted two Article 15 complaints to the International Criminal Court related to the destruction of schools, and filed several investigations to UN agencies related to breaches of the rights of children. All investigations relied on open source intelligence (social media) using decentralized storage and blockchain registration.
Dokaz Partners
Highlights
Presentation at WEF Davos 2023, 9 months after the ground invasion
Production of cryptographically secure and contextualized multimedia with open source tools
Verification of allegations, including of large-scale misinformation campaigns
Selected Activities:
- We document war crimes. We leverage resilient, decentralized technologies (like blockchain and distributed storage) to permanently preserve evidence of atrocities committed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, ensuring it cannot be lost or tampered with.
- We authenticate digital evidence. We verify open-source intelligence (OSINT), social media content, and field photography using cryptographic methods to create “trustless evidence” that can withstand scrutiny in legal settings.
- We submit legal filings. We build evidentiary dossiers and file formal complaints with major judicial bodies, including the International Criminal Court (ICC) and UN special procedures, to support the prosecution of war crimes and breaches of human rights.
“Trustless Evidence” at Vellum Los Angeles, Sept 2022 (click to play full video)
2022
May 2022
OSINT dossier filed to the International Criminal Court
“A crypto-based dossier could help prove Russia committed war crimes.”
DRFLab + Starling Lab + Hala Systems
June 2022
Field photographs captured and authenticated
Further corroborating previous ICC investigation, notably regarding munitions used.
Guardian Project + Starling Lab + Hala Systems
Sept 2022
Legal Roundtable: Best practices for admissible web archives
Threats from the frontier of the practice and guidelines for legal practitioners.
Global Justice Advisors + Starling Lab + Nicholas Taylor + Internet Archive
2023
Jan 2023
Kharkiv Schools Fund Project, Signal Messenger
Crowdsourced, secure citizen capture confirming protected status of schools.
Guardian Project + Starling Lab + Forté Group
Feb 2023
Disinformation to prepare the ground
Preservation of vast, pre-invasion campaigns of disinformation as supporting evidence.
DFRLab + Starling Lab
March 2023
Briefing to Ambassador Van Schaack
Outlining the work for Ukraine and its place in international criminal law.
Starling Lab + Hala Systems
May 2023
"An emerging good practice"
Joint submission recognised by the Human Rights Council in defending schools in Ukraine.
Starling Lab + Hala Systems
June 2023
Photogrammetry as evidence
Preservation of artworks in western Kyiv on a destroyed building, and recreation in the 3D space.
Pixelrace + Hala Systems + Starling Lab
Oct 2023
Consultation on Ukraine-wide database of crimes
User research with members of new War Crimes Unit aiming to aggregate regional cases.
The Reckoning Project + Starling Lab + Hala Systems
Dec 2023
UN Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine
Joint submission including novel evidence bases and offer of preservation methodology.
Global Justice Advisors + Starling Lab + Hala Systems + NORSAR
Dec 2023
OSINT event at the Inner Temple
Attended “New Frontiers in Evidence” workshop focusing on verification of user-generated evidence.
Starling Lab
2024
May 2024
Authentication of 360 film source material
Secure capture of materials providing authenticity markers in a 360 / VR film.
Nobody’s Listening + Starling Lab
June 2024
Article on verification in an age of gen AI
Details risks and opportunities for verification and authentication of open-source imagery.
TRUE Project + Starling Lab + Stanford IR
July 2024
"Shall we press play?" online seminar
Discussing stringent technical interrogations of open-source imagery ahead of viewing it to prevent prejudice.
Starling Lab + Stanford IR
July 2024
Human Rights track at IPFS Camp
Bringing together civil society organizations to present their work supported by distributed systems.
IPFS Camp + Starling Lab
Sept 2024
Law and gen AI roundtable
Cross-disciplinary exchange for the Global Criminal Justice office of the State Department.
Starling Lab + Hala Systems
Sept 2024
Input on the IILAT Advocacy Training Scenarios
Design of a critical mock trial scenarios confront expert witnesses to OSI material with C2PA verifications.
Starling Lab + TRUE Project + Bellingcat
2025
Jan 2025
UN Human Rights Council Report Citation
Starling’s submission cited in the Special Rapporteur’s report regarding support for defenders in remote areas.
Starling Lab
April 2025
IIPC Web Archiving Conference, Oslo
Presentation on “Web Archiving for Accountability,” focusing on high-fidelity capture for legal contexts.
Webrecorder + Starling Lab
June 2025
Leiden University Workshop, The Hague
Workshop to draft principles and guidelines for courts and fact-finders on digital evidence in the age of AI.
Fénix Foundation + Starling Lab
July 2025
Inner Temple Advocacy Training
Served as expert witness in training for barristers, focusing on cross-examination of C2PA and OSINT evidence.
Starling Lab + Inner Temple
Nov 2025
"Sanctions, Scams, and Deepfakes" Investigation
Forensic preservation of 9,000+ web pages and Telegram posts to support a cross-border investigation.
Airwars + IStories + Starling Lab
Nov 2025
"Catching a War Criminal in the 21st Century" Panel
Closed-door session at Yale discussing legal processes for video and AI evidence.
The Reckoning Project + Starling Lab
2026
Jan 2026
UN Special Rapporteur Position Paper Citation
Starling’s submission cited in the Special Rapporteur’s position paper on the protection of rights while using AI to counter terrorism.
Starling Lab
Jan 2026
Emergency guidance for AI-affected evidence
Publication of our joint guidance and definition work on handling ‘AI-affected’ evidence in verification work
Fénix Foundation + Starling Lab
Jan 2026
Participation to Oxford / Videre / FCDO event at Chatham House
Joint roundtable on capture and storage approaches to documentation, and leveraging technology in support of international justice.
Starling Lab