According to the Russian press and his lawyers, the head of Russia's only independent election watchdog was sentenced to five years in prison on Wednesday after being convicted of working with “unwanted” organizations.
Grigory Merkonint, co-founder of the Russian election watchdog group Golos, was jailed in 2023 after President Vladimir V. Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine and led a massive crackdown at his home. Melconint, 44, who was indicted for “organizing the activities of unwanted organisations,” pleaded not guilty when the trial was held last September.
On Wednesday he was found guilty in a Moscow court and sentenced to five years in a prison colony, his lawyer, Mikhail Biryokov, told The New York Times.
Founded in 2000 and documenting widespread election fraud, Golos was labelled “foreign agent” in 2013 by Russian authorities. However, the charges against Melconant relate to the group's past affiliation of the election watchdog organization, with Russian authorities declaring it “unjust” in 2021. Golos says it has ended its participation in the association following the decision.
The “unwanted” label is used to prohibit unwanted groups, including NGOs and media organizations, and to crack down on dissent. However, Melconint said he was apolitical as Roman Udot, a longtime colleague who lives in exile.
He said countless civic activists fled Russia after the Ukrainian invasion in 2022, but Melkonint insisted on focusing on his expertise without sides.
Goros, which means “voting” in Russian, documented a massive voting fraud in the 2011 parliamentary elections. Anger over these violations sparked the biggest protest ever against Putin's control, spurring a wider opposition movement led by the late Alexei A. Navalny.
After pressure from Russian authorities, Goros was designated as a foreign agent in 2013. However, it was only after the start of the war in Ukraine that Russian security services had cracked more violently in the group, Udot said.
After his arrest, Melconint was listed as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, and said election experts were “persecuted only for his civil actions.”
