INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of the independent election guard dog Golos, was sentenced Wednesday to 5 years in prison on charges of
participating in the activities of an unfavorable organization.Judge Evgeniya Nikolaeva of Moscows Basmanny District Court found Melkonyants
guilty of working with the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO), a Montenegro-based NGO blacklisted by Russian
In addition to the jail term, the judge barred Melkonyants from engaging in public activity for 9 years following his release, the exiled
news outlet Mediazona reported.Prosecutors had sought the maximum six-year sentence, declaring that Golos worked as a structural department
Both Melkonyants and ENEMO, a coalition of election observers from 18 Central and Eastern European nations, rejected the
affiliation.Melkonyants was jailed in August 2023
Judge Nikolaeva stated the time he invested in pre-trial detention would count towards his general sentence.Dont worry, Im not dissuaded
You shouldnt be either, Melkonyants told fans in court following the verdict.His legal representative Mikhail Biryukov told press reporters
that he and his client will appeal the sentencing.Founded in 2000, Golos has long drawn the Kremlins ire for recording election offenses,
including throughout Russias disputed 2011 parliamentary vote, the 2012 governmental election that returned President Vladimir Putin to the
Kremlin, along with the 2020 constitutional referendum that extended the Russian leaders guideline to 2036
Golos trains election observers and runs a hotline for reporting offenses
Russias Justice Ministry designated it a foreign agent in 2021.
