Lindsay Freeman
The Wagner Group Can’t Stop Posting Its Crimes
Want to know what crimes the Wagner Group is committing in Africa? Just follow them on Telegram.
Current and former members of the Wagner Group, as well as their affiliates, family, and fans, literally cannot stop posting about their adventures (and accompanying criminal acts) on the African continent. With a vast social network of more than 150 Telegram channels and accounts, there is a 24/7 stream of content documenting their violence in the most graphic ways imaginable. Pair that information with Jihadist drone footage, satellite imagery, Tuareg rebel reporting, body-cam footage, Malian military press releases, import/export data, Russian public statements, and a trove of leaked internal documents from “The Company” and you are well on your way to building a compelling war crimes case.
This presentation will demonstrate how a team of researchers, investigators, and lawyers at the UC Berkeley Human Rights Center used OSINT, AI tools, and other cutting-edge investigation techniques to document the Wagner Group’s chain of command and track their military operations in far-flung parts of the Sahel. After a 2+ year investigation, the UC Berkeley team submitted a confidential legal filing and evidence dossier to the International Criminal Court urging the Prosecutor to pursue a case against the Wagner Group for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Mali. This is the first time anyone on the team will present on the investigation or its findings. As a result, the content of this presentation is sensitive and must be kept confidential.
Lindsay Freeman is the Director of the Technology, Law & Policy program at the Human Rights Center, UC Berkeley School of Law. She specializes in international criminal and humanitarian law with a focus on digital evidence, open source investigations, and cyber-enabled international crimes. She led the drafting of the United Nations’ Berkeley Protocol on Digital Open Source Investigations and developed the OSINT training course for the Institute of International Criminal Investigations. She previously worked for the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and served as a trial lawyer at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.
