UN expert calls for release of incarcerated Russia election monitor

Russian political prisoner Grigory Melkonyants’s final speech in court is an ‘Ode to Joy’

Grigory Melkonyants, head of an election monitoring group, speaks in court about hope and joy in the times of despair. Next day, he is sentenced to five years in prison

UN expert calls for release of incarcerated Russia election monitor

The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, Mariana Katzarova, called on Thursday for the release of Grigory Melkonyants, a lawyer and one of the most famous experts on election legislation and process in Russia. Katzarova categorized the sentencing of Melkonyants as a “grave miscarriage of justice and a blatant attempt to silence one of Russia’s critical voices for electoral transparency”. The UN Specia…