The Gemini Project are raising funds to support their research into how civil litigation is being weaponised by abusers to silence their victims who speak out and disclose the abuse they have survived.

Since The Gemini Project first launched this research, the occurrence of civil litigation cases of this nature has increased, particularly following the widely publicised Amber Heard v Johnny Depp case.

The Gemini Project are looking to gather as much data as possible to gain a wider understanding of the prevalence of this practice. Responses to the survey will provide statistics of the current scale of the practice and testimonials to be used to compile a dossier of case studies to further campaigning efforts in this area.

The Gemini Project wishes to end the practice of abusers weaponising civil litigation against survivors as they believe it is a continuation of abuse as well as an additional trauma. By their nature these cases are brought against survivors to silence and revictimise them both emotionally and financially.

All raised funds allow The Gemini Project to pay for a Qualtrics account for the survey - this allows more respondents to complete the survey. It will also support the costs of printing the completed dossier.

The Gemini Project is a non-profit organisation working to end sexual violence through advocacy, campaigns and education. The organisation was co-founded by identical twin sisters Lucy and Verity Nevitt in August 2018.

Their wider campaign to end the use of these civil lawsuits, often described as ‘gagging orders’ bought by abusers to silence survivors came from their own High Court battle against their abuser, anonymised as CWD. CWD took legal action against them after they were encouraged by Metropolitan Police Officers to speak out and disclose their experiences online in 2019 after the case against their abuser was dropped by Police.

CWD launched legal proceedings against the twins citing misuse of private information and harassment. This later expanded to defamation. Lucy and Verity were able to crowdfund over £12,000 to secure legal representation on a conditional fee agreement basis with solicitors at Hodge Jones and Allen and barristers Katrin Evans KC and Emma Foubister of Matrix Chambers.

CWD attempted to shut down their CrowdJustice page, sent cease and desist letters to Members of Parliament who supported the twins and applied for a press injunction which the Press Association fought and won. The twins settled the case with CWD in June 2020 agreeing not to name their perpetrator when discussing their case.