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.
Read also: Will Putin meet Zelensky? As Ukraine, Russia peace talks loom, all eyes are on Kremlin's next move
We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Woman detained by ICE in CT city, two young children allegedly left terrified in car
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker confirmed Wednesday that the New Haven Police Department was told that a woman from the Hill neighborhood of the city was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Elicker said they are trying to confirm that the woman was with her two children, ages 13 and 8, when the arrest by ICE occurred. 'If that is true…that is deplorable and inhumane,' Elicker said. Elicker said he has two children about those ages, who would 'lose their minds' if they saw their mother arrested in such a way. It would be 'beyond the pale,' he said. He said he was told she was getting the kids ready to go to school when the arrest occurred. Further, Elicker said, ICE did not inform the city or the Police Department that the arrest would take place, which 'creates a danger' for her, police and ICE, because the arrest could be seen as an abduction by those who did not know what was occurring. 'It puts our officers and ICE at risk,' he said. Elicker, who did not name the woman, said she had been charged in March with third-degree assault following a conflict in which she and another person suffered minor injuries. He said the case remains pending. John Lugo, an organizer with New Haven-based Unidad Latina en Accion, said the woman was taken around 8:15 a.m. on Monday morning with her two children in her car. 'The woman was taken and detained and her two traumatized children remained in the car,' Lugo said. Lugo said one of the children is autistic and keeps asking for his mother. 'He wants his mom but there is no mom. Mom is sitting in jail,' Lugo said. Lugo said both children are staying with a grandmother in the state. The grandmother is visiting from Mexico but the length of her stay in the U.S. is unclear, so Lugo and his organization are worried about the future of the children once she goes back to Mexico. CT high school's joy in graduation dimmed by classmate taken by ICE. Town hopes to get him back. Lugo said the best way the public can help is money for legal representation. He said the detained woman does not have a lawyer at this time and that all other state detainees end up in Texas. He's waiting to see if she ends up transferred to Texas, which he said would only add to the financial burden. 'That's one way to punish migrants when you have to transfer someone so far away. Being in Texas adds an additional cost. Now they need a lawyer to travel there because sometimes they aren't allowed to have video conferences,' Lugo said. Lugo said since last week there have been more people being detained without any history of felonies. 'The perfect example was the Southington car wash incident,' Lugo said. 'They were just profiled. They drove by and saw a bunch of migrants and decided to stop and detained them. That happened the same day as what happened to the women in New Haven.' 'In Southington, they just detained four people because they looked like migrants. They weren't looking for a particular person. I think it's very troubling and the hard part is seeing the kids crying and being traumatized,' he added. 'Due process is not there anymore.' The reason for the Southington arrest has not been confirmed by authorities. Lugo said since the start of President Donald Trump's second term, people in his community are scared. 'They are trying to figure out what to do. Many are thinking about going back to their country because this is not a safe place anymore,' Lugo said. 'It's not just the government. We see other kids at school threatening to call ICE on classmates and parents. We see landlords taking advantage. They are raising the rent and are getting them evicted. The first threat by many is: if you don't move, 'I will call ICE.'' 'I have two cases in which New Haven restaurant bosses that have told workers if you don't stop complaining about wages or raises, I'm going to call immigration on you guys. It's not just the government. This is empowering people to hate people and hate us.' Lugo said he fears that ICE is expanding and that he knows of an office that has opened in New Haven. 'We think eventually they are going to hit us hard in Connecticut just because they want to punish the state because the state has taken a stance on behalf of the migrant community,' Lugo said. The Southington and New Haven detainments by ICE are all on the heels of a Meriden high school student and his father being detained last week.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Man convicted of fraud for posing as flight attendant to fly for free
(CNN) – A man accused of falsely posing as a flight attendant to reap dozens of free flights has been convicted of wire fraud and fraudulently entering the secure area of an airport. Tiron Alexander, 35, was found guilty by a federal jury after taking 34 free flights that he obtained by pretending to be a flight attendant or a pilot, the U.S. District Attorney in Southern Florida said in a news release Tuesday. He was also convicted of entering the secure area at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport under false pretenses, authorities said. The man was employed by an unidentified airline based in Dallas beginning in 2015, court documents said, but not as a pilot or a flight attendant. The scheme to obtain free tickets, for a Florida-based airline, began in 2018 and continued until 2024, according to court documents. Alexander was indicted on these charges in Florida. He was arrested in California in February. The tickets Alexander secured are reserved for flight attendants and pilots. Free flights are among the top perks of working as a pilot or flight attendant. The benefit is based on seniority and tenure. Using the airlines' online ticketing systems, Alexander claimed to have worked intermittently for seven different carriers, according to the prosecutors' news release. He was convicted of four counts of wire fraud and one count of falsely entering the airport's secure area. Alexander was represented by attorneys in the public defender's office in Miami. CNN has reached out to them for comment. Authorities allege Alexander had booked more than 100 flights by falsely posing as a flight attendant. Alexander will be sentenced in August. He faces up to 20 years in prison for the wire fraud counts and up to 10 years for entering the airport's secure area, according to the indictment.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Politically tied loan request awaits state panel's decision
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — A Sioux Falls-based business that has significant political connections to the highest levels of South Dakota state government is seeking a $1.2 million low-interest loan from the state Board of Economic Development. The board on Wednesday delayed a decision on the REDI loan application, however, until after CoAxis Energy Company can provide additional information to the Governor's Office of Economic Development that the board has requested. The board operates as the decision-making arm of GOED. CoAxis is a liquid natural gas supplier and system designer. Its president is Scott Stern. He was GOED commissioner during the latter years of the Daugaard administration and is president of family-owned Stern Oil Company, based in Freeman. Cheyenne River Reservation authorities investigating 2 deaths Among others listed on the CoAxis website's leadership page is Dennis Daugaard, who served as South Dakota governor from 2011 through 2018. Daugaard appointed Stern in 2016 as GOED commissioner. Stern stepped down in November 2018 as Daugaard's time as governor came to a close. A business record on file at the South Dakota Secretary of State office shows that Stern established CoAxis in 2019, the year after he had returned to the private sector. The CoAxis vice president is Trent Arlint. He is married to Republican Rep. Amber Arlint. Stern is her father. Two of the state board's members, chair Jeff Erickson of Sioux Falls and Joy Nelson of Watertown, recused themselves from the discussion during the teleconference on Wednesday. Erickson said they serve on the board of directors for a bank that may be participating. Erickson, Nelson and Daugaard are directors for American Bank & Trust. Erickson and Daugaard have also been involved with Standard Trust, a Sioux Falls-based investment company. Gov. Larry Rhoden appointed Daugaard's son-in-law, Tony Venhuizen, as lieutenant governor earlier this year. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.