Bellingcat investigator: I 鈥渟et my own boundaries鈥�
Russia鈥檚 鈥渕ost wanted鈥� journalist lays out his rules for when it is acceptable to break privacy law
Christo Grozev of the investigative journalism group Bellingcat has spoken to HARDtalk about the methods he uses to expose government-mandated crimes. Grozev admits to paying 鈥渙ut of my own pocket鈥� for Russian personal data, but insists that 鈥渢his breach of privacy laws is overridden by the public interest鈥�.
Speaking to Stephen Sackur, Grozev explained that he had set his own 鈥渂oundaries and rules of when it is acceptable鈥� to pay for data on the Russian black market. He only does so when he believes there is strong evidence of a 鈥済overnment-perpetrated crime鈥� because there is currently a 鈥済ap in the legal system鈥� for holding such crimes accountable. His previous investigations have included identifying the assassins behind the poisonings of Alexei Navalny in Russia and Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury.
Bellingcat鈥檚 lead Russia investigator denied that he or the organisation had ever conducted hacking themselves, but acknowledged that 鈥渨e've used hacked material that has been provided鈥�. He noted that a court in Germany had accepted his evidence, despite infraction of Russian law, because 鈥渢here's an overriding public interest when we talk about government mandated assassination.鈥�
Having been declared a 鈥渨anted鈥� man by Russia in December, Bulgarian journalist Grozev was forced to leave his home in Vienna because of concerns for his safety. He is currently living in the United States where he has been promoting the Oscar-winning documentary Navalny, in which he features heavily. The Kremlin denies involvement in the various crimes which Bellingcat has accused it of.
