The chief of the single guard of the independent elections of Russia was sentenced on Wednesday to five years in a criminal colony after being found guilty of working with an “unwanted organization”.
Grigory Melkonyers, co -president of the Golos Movement, was arrested in August 2023. He pleaded not guilty during his trial.
Human rights activists claim that the 44 -year -old man’s affair is part of a broader repression of civil society which has intensified since the Invasion of Russia on the scale of Ukraine in February 2022.
The press media, Mediazona, said that Melkonyants called for supporters in the courtroom and urged them not to be destroyed on the verdict.
Golos, which means both the “voice” and the “vote” in Russian, first anger the authorities by making proof of what she said was fraud during a 2011 parliamentary election which led to opposition demonstrations, then during the presidential vote which referred Vladimir Putin to the Kremlin for a third term in 2012.
The accusations against Melkonyers were based on its alleged involvement in the European network based in Montenegro of elections supervision organizations, which connects on -call dogs in former communist countries in Europe and Central Asia. Enemo did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
Golos says that he had had no interaction with enemies since Russia prohibited the latter as “undesirable” in 2021.
“This absurd case [against Melkonyants] Defines easy explanations, not only for foreigners, but even for ourselves, “Golos Co-president, Stanislav Andreichuk told Reuters.
Although he was appointed as a “foreign agent”, Golos continues his work in Russia.
“Even if things become more difficult, we always do what we do,” said Andreichuk.
Last year, Golos described the 2024 elections that sent Putin for a fifth term with more than 88% of the votes as the most fraudulent and the most corrupt in the history of the country.
The Kremlin said that the result showed that the Russian people had “consolidated” Putin, and Western attempts to depict the election as illegitimate were absurd.
Andreichuk said the Melkonyers trial should be important to the outside world, because golos work was part of a fight for democracy.
“A real democracy in Russia would not be a military threat. But an authoritarian government will continue to threaten its neighbors,” he said.
The OVD-Info rights group claims that more than 1,600 people are currently imprisoned in Russia for political reasons. The Kremlin says that it does not comment on individual cases, but that Russia must respect its laws and protect itself from subversive activity.
