Head of Russia's only independent election watchdog receives 5-year prison sentence

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: May 14, 2025 9:54 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

The caput of Russia's lone autarkic predetermination watchdog was sentenced connected Wednesday to 5 years successful a penal colony aft being recovered blameworthy of moving with an "undesirable organization."

Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of the Golos movement, was arrested successful August 2023. He pleaded not blameworthy astatine his trial.

Human rights campaigners accidental the lawsuit against the 44-year-old is portion of a wider crackdown connected civilian nine that has intensified since Russia's full-scale penetration of Ukraine successful February 2022.

News outlet Mediazona said Melkonyants called retired to supporters successful the courtroom and urged them not to beryllium downhearted implicit the verdict.

Golos, which means some "voice" and "vote" successful Russian, archetypal angered the authorities by publicizing grounds of what it said was fraud successful a 2011 parliamentary predetermination that led to absorption protests, and past successful the statesmanlike ballot that returned Vladimir Putin to the Kremlin for a 3rd word successful 2012.

The charges against Melkonyants were based connected his alleged engagement with the Montenegro-based European Network of Election Monitoring Organisations, which links watchdogs successful erstwhile communist countries successful Europe and Central Asia. ENEMO did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.

Golos says it has had nary enactment with ENEMO since Russia banned the second arsenic "undesirable" successful 2021.

"This absurd lawsuit [against Melkonyants] defies casual explanation, not lone for foreigners but adjacent for ourselves," Golos co-chair Stanislav Andreichuk told Reuters.

Despite being designated arsenic a "foreign agent," Golos continues its enactment successful Russia.

"Even though things are getting tougher, we're inactive doing what we do," Andreichuk said.

Last year, Golos described the 2024 predetermination that returned Putin for a 5th word with much than 88 per cent of the ballot arsenic the astir fraudulent and corrupt successful the country's history.

The Kremlin said the effect showed that the Russian radical had "consolidated" astir Putin, and Western attempts to represent the predetermination arsenic illegitimate were absurd.

Andreichuk said the Melkonyants trial should substance to the extracurricular world, due to the fact that Golos's enactment was portion of a conflict for democracy.

"A existent ideology successful Russia wouldn't beryllium a subject threat. But an authoritarian authorities volition support threatening its neighbours," helium said.

Rights radical OVD-Info says much than 1,600 radical are presently imprisoned successful Russia connected governmental grounds. The Kremlin says it does not remark connected idiosyncratic cases, but that Russia needs to uphold its laws and support itself against subversive activity.