US EditionRussia convicts a prominent election monitoring activist and sentences him to 5 years in prison
- A Moscow court convicted Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of election watchdog Golos, on May 14, 2025, sentencing him to five years in prison.
- The conviction stemmed from charges of organizing work for an 'undesirable' organization linked to Golos' membership in a banned European network and occurred amid a government crackdown since 2022.
- Founded in 2000, Golos exposed election violations but faced escalating pressure after its 2013 foreign agent label, NGO liquidation in 2016, and inclusion on a 2021 foreign agent registry.
- Melkonyants and his defense deny the charges as baseless and politically motivated, with his lawyer Mikhail Biryukov stating, “there is no evidence” and pledging to appeal the verdict.
- The sentencing highlights ongoing Kremlin efforts to intimidate independent observers and suppress critics amid intensified repression since Russia’s 2022 Ukraine invasion.
108 Articles
108 Articles
DECRYPTAGE - The Russian courts distribute unprecedented judgments in turn to repress any form of challenge.
The Toronto Star
Russian court jails prominent election monitoring activist for 5 years
A court in Moscow on Wednesday convicted one of the leaders of a prominent independent election monitoring group on charges of organizing the work of an “undesirable” organization and sentenced
Times Live
Russia jails head of independent election watchdog for five years
The head of Russia's only independent election watchdog was sentenced on Wednesday to five years in a penal colony after being found guilty of working with an "undesirable organisation".
Russian election monitor sentenced to 5 years over 'undesirable' organization links
A Moscow court on May 14 sentenced Grigory Melkonyants, the co-chair of independent Russian election monitor Golos, to five years in prison over allegedly participating in activities of an "undesirable" organization.Melkonyants was arrested in August 2023 in connection with Golos's claimed links to the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO), a Montenegro-based international network of election monitors working in Europe an…
A court in Russia has sentenced Grigori Melkoniants, a...
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