Who is Grigary Melcontants? Russian election watchdog leader sentenced to five years in jail
The Moscow court on Wednesday sentenced Grigory Melcontants, co-chairman of the independent election monitoring group Golos, on charges of organizing an “undesirable” organization activities, politically motivated on charges of organizing a “undesirable” organization activities widely condemned by a human rights lawyer.Melconants arrested in August 2023 have requested to be innocent in their entire test. The prosecutors accused him of continuing continuous collaboration with the Montenegro-based European Network of Election Monitoring Organization (Anims), named “Undeavall” by Russian authorities in 2021.Moscow’s Basmani District Court judge andgenia Nikoleva found guilty of working with Animal and imposed additional restrictions beyond the jail sentence. According to exiled independent news outlet Mediajona, the court prevented Melcon from being attached to any “public activity” for nine years after its release.The case is part of a comprehensive campaign against political critics that Kremlin has intensified since the Ukraine invasion in 2022. Both Melconants and Golos have dismissed the allegations as politically operated.Golos, which has been a long -targeted target by the authorities, since its establishment in Russia’s establishment. It was labeled a “foreign agent” in 2013, a designation that took the stigma and increased the investigation, and was dissolved in 2016 as a non-governmental organization by the Ministry of Justice. The group continued to function informally as an informally one and was added to an unregistered “foreign agents in 2021.,While Golos himself has not been declared “undesirable”, prosecutors argued that its previous relationship with Anim, from which it was a member of an NGO before its liquidation, provided the basis for prosecution of melankonants.In recent years, Russian authorities have increased efforts to silence independent voices. Many media outlets and human rights organizations have been closed, branded as “foreign agents”, or illegal as “undesirable”, while hundreds of activists, journalists and opposition figures face criminal prosecution.The punishment of Melconants has strongly criticized international observers, who see it as a further evidence of Russia’s democratic norms and the erosion of civilian freedom.
