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 and Central Asia.

Russia branded ENEMO as an "undesirable" organization – a legal classification used to repress the regime's perceived opponents – in September 2021.

Prosecutors have called for a six-year sentence and claimed that Golos was a structural part of ENEMO, which Melkonyants and the network both denied. The Montenegro-based network has said it has not interacted with Golos since 2021.

Independent news outlet Mediazona noted that neither the Golos association – the original iteration of the organization dissolved after being branded a "foreign agent" – not the current Golos movement has been named an "undesirable" organization.

Melkonyants was also banned from public activities for nine years after serving his sentence. The prison term will count since the start of his pretrial detention in 2023.

The case has been largely described as part of the Kremlin's crackdown on civil society.

Golos, in its various forms, has monitored Russian elections since 2000. It has faced hostility from the Kremlin for highlighting widespread electoral violations — most notably during the 2012 presidential election, which marked Vladimir Putin’s return to power.

The crackdown against the organization has only intensified after the outbreak of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as Golos's members have openly criticized the war.