Kremlin Jails Election Monitor in Crackdown on Critics

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Kremlin Jails Election Monitor in Crackdown on Critics \ Newslooks \ Washington DC \ Mary Sidiqi \ Evening Edition \ A Moscow court sentenced Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of Russia’s top election watchdog Golos, to five years in prison for alleged links to an “undesirable” organization. Melkonyants denies the politically charged accusations amid a wider crackdown on dissent post-Ukraine invasion. Human rights groups, including Memorial, have labeled him a political prisoner.

Quick Looks

Moscow court sentences Golos co-chair Melkonyants to five years.
Charged with involvement in “undesirable” foreign organization.
Verdict follows broader crackdown on Kremlin critics post-Ukraine invasion.
Melkonyants: “Don’t worry, I’m not despairing.”
Golos has exposed election violations since 2000.
Group previously labeled a “foreign agent,” later liquidated by authorities.
Case linked to Golos’s past membership in ENEMO, banned in 2021.
Defense says Golos had no affiliation with ENEMO when it was outlawed.
Melkonyants has been in custody since August 2023.
Russian election chief Pamfilova had previously supported him.
Memorial calls Melkonyants a political prisoner, vows to appeal.
Court credited time already served in pre-trial detention.

Deep Look

Russian Court Sentences Golos Election Monitor Grigory Melkonyants to Five Years as Crackdown on Dissent Deepens

A Moscow court on Wednesday sentenced Grigory Melkonyants, a prominent election monitor and co-chair of the independent group Golos, to five years in prison on charges of organizing the activities of an “undesirable” organization. The sentence is the latest blow in a sustained campaign by the Russian government to silence independent voices, particularly since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Melkonyants, 44, has denied all allegations, asserting that the charges are politically driven. Standing in the glass defendant’s cage inside the Basmanny District Court, he addressed dozens of supporters and journalists with a calm defiance. “Don’t worry, I’m not despairing. You shouldn’t despair either,” he said moments after the verdict was delivered.

Golos: A Watchdog Under Fire

Golos, founded in 2000, has long served as Russia’s foremost independent election monitoring group. Over the years, it has played a crucial role in documenting and publicizing election irregularities across the country. But as the Kremlin tightened its grip on civil society, Golos increasingly found itself in the crosshairs of the state.

In 2013, the Justice Ministry designated the group a “foreign agent,” a label that carries both legal burdens and societal stigma. Then, in 2016, it was forcibly dissolved as a registered non-governmental organization. Despite this, Golos continued its work informally, operating as a civic initiative without official NGO status.

By 2021, Golos was placed in a new registry of “foreign agents” for groups not legally recognized as entities in Russia—further escalating pressure from authorities.

Controversial Ties to ENEMO

Melkonyants’ prosecution centers on Golos’s historic association with the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO), which was declared “undesirable” by the Russian government in 2021. Although Golos was a member of ENEMO during its time as an NGO, the defense argues that the group had no affiliation at the time ENEMO was blacklisted—and that Melkonyants had no role in facilitating any activities for the network post-ban.

Despite this, prosecutors charged him with organizing work on behalf of an “undesirable organization”—a serious offense under Russian law, punishable by imprisonment.

Political Context and International Condemnation

Melkonyants’ conviction is widely seen as part of Russia’s intensifying crackdown on civil society, dissent, and independent journalism. Since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, the government has moved swiftly to shutter independent media, brand critics as “foreign agents,” and impose criminal penalties on peaceful activism.

Human rights group Memorial, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, has officially recognized Melkonyants as a political prisoner. “This is a politically motivated prosecution designed to destroy independent oversight of elections in Russia,” Memorial said in a statement.

Support from Unexpected Places

In a rare show of dissent within official ranks, Ella Pamfilova, head of Russia’s Central Election Commission, previously voiced support for Melkonyants. “His criticism, often professional, helped us a lot sometimes,” she told Vedomosti shortly after his 2023 arrest. Her remarks, though notable, had no apparent influence on the court’s verdict.

Emotional Closing and Pledge to Appeal

In a powerful closing statement on Monday, shared in full by independent outlets Mediazona and Meduza, Melkonyants reflected on the importance of civil liberties. “When you’re behind bars, rights and freedoms aren’t abstract ideas. You see what it means to defend them,” he said.

His defense team plans to appeal the ruling. Attorney Mikhail Biryukov told reporters, “There is no evidence in this case. It is politically motivated, inflated, and unjust. We will fight to overturn it.”

Given time already served in pre-trial detention, Melkonyants will likely spend less than half of the five-year sentence in prison. Still, rights advocates warn that the signal sent by this case is chilling: that even technical links to international civil society groups can now be grounds for imprisonment in Russia.

A Dangerous Precedent for Election Transparency

With Russia preparing for upcoming elections in 2025 and beyond, the silencing of Golos and its leadership removes one of the last independent mechanisms for tracking electoral integrity. Observers warn that without watchdogs like Melkonyants, Russian elections will become increasingly opaque.

As the court ruling reverberates through activist circles, many fear that this case will further deter citizen oversight, reduce transparency, and embolden the state to dismantle what remains of independent civil society in Russia.