Latest news with #ENEMO
Scoop
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Russia Must Immediately Release Election Monitor Grigory Melkonyants: UN Special Rapporteur
GENEVA (22 May 2025) – The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, Mariana Katzarova, today condemned the 12 May 2025 sentencing of Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of the 'Golos' movement which had been declared 'foreign agent' in Russia. Melkonyants was sentenced to five years in prison by the Basmanny Court of Moscow for his peaceful work defending electoral integrity and human rights in Russia. 'This sentence is a grave miscarriage of justice and a blatant attempt to silence one of Russia's critical voices for electoral transparency. It is yet another example of the severe clampdown on civil society by Russian authorities in the past three years, since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022,' Mariana Katzarova said. 'The charges are politically motivated and based on legally dubious grounds, including misrepresented evidence and disregard for the defendant's rights.' Melkonyants was convicted under article 284.1(3) of the Russian Criminal Code for allegedly organising the activities of an 'undesirable' organisation – the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO). The court also imposed a nine-year ban on his participation in public activities following his prison term. 'Melkonyants' case exemplifies the systematic targeting of civil society actors in Russia who dare to challenge the State's control over the electoral process,' Katzarova said. 'His arrest and conviction violate his rights to freedom of expression, association, and participation in public affairs, as protected under articles 19, 21, and 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.' Melkonyants was arrested in August 2023, just weeks before the start of the presidential campaign that led to Russian President Vladimir Putin's re-election. The prosecution alleged ties between 'Golos' and ENEMO, despite 'Golos' publicly withdrawing membership in 2021 after ENEMO was labelled 'undesirable.' His trial, which began in September 2024, was marred by procedural flaws, including reliance on outdated ENEMO website data linking 'Golos' to a defunct organisation, and disregard for evidence of 'Golos' formally leaving the network. Furthermore, Melkonyants' participation in a roundtable at the Central Election Commission (CEC) – used as evidence against him – was at the official invitation of the CEC chair and in his capacity as an individual expert, not as a representative of any foreign organisation as claimed by the prosecution. 'The prosecution failed to demonstrate that Melkonyants posed any risk to the investigation, yet he was held in pre-trial detention for over a year,' the expert said. The Special Rapporteur expressed grave concern over the broader legal framework for Melkonyants' prosecution, noting that laws on 'foreign agents' and 'undesirable' organisations criminalise international cooperation and civic engagement. She noted that the targeted 'designations' of human rights organisations under these laws, continued. Most recently, on 19 May 2025, the authorities declared Amnesty International 'undesirable' for, as they claimed, 'backing Ukraine against Russia, promoting Russophobic narratives, and financing 'extremists' and 'foreign agents''. 'Melkonyants is being punished not for a crime, but for his steadfast commitment to human rights and safeguarding the principle of free and fair elections in Russia,' Katzarova said. 'For over 20 years, 'Golos' has advanced electoral transparency and reform in Russia,' she said. 'Melkonyants must be released immediately with all charges against him dropped. The repressive laws under which he has been targeted must be repealed.' The Special Rapporteur has earlier addressed the Government on this case.
Time of India
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Russian court jails prominent election monitoring activist for 5 years
Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of Russia's leading independent election monitoring group Golos(Photo: AP) A court in Moscow on Wednesday convicted one of the leaders of a prominent independent election monitoring group on charges of organizing the work of an "undesirable" organization and sentenced him to five years in prison. Grigory Melkonyants , co-chair of Russia's leading election watchdog Golos , has rejected the charges as politically motivated. The case against him is part of the monthslong crackdown on Kremlin critics and rights activists that the government ratcheted up after invading Ukraine in 2022. After a judge of the Basmanny District Court delivered the verdict, Melkonyants, 44, told several dozen supporters and journalists from the glass defendant's cage: "Don't worry, I'm not despairing. You shouldn't despair either!" Golos has monitored for and exposed violations in every major election in Russia since it was founded in 2000. Over the years, it has faced mounting pressure from the authorities. In 2013, the group was designated as a "foreign agent" - a label that implies additional government scrutiny and carries strong pejorative connotations. Three years later, it was liquidated as a non-governmental organization by Russia's Justice Ministry. Golos has continued to operate without registering as an NGO, exposing violations in various elections, and in 2021 it was added to a new registry of "foreign agents," created by the Justice Ministry for groups that are not registered as a legal entity in Russia. It has not been designated as "undesirable" - a label that under a 2015 law makes involvement with such organizations a criminal offense. But when it was an NGO, it was a member of the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations, or ENEMO, a group that was declared "undesirable" in Russia in 2021, and the charges against Melkonyants stemmed from that. In his closing statement to the court on Monday, published in full by independent news outlets Mediazona and Meduza, Melkonyants talked about how rights and freedoms often are taken for granted but look very different from "behind bars," and it's clear how much one must constantly "protect and defend" them. The defense argued that when ENEMO was outlawed in Russia, Golos wasn't a member, and Melkonyants had nothing to do with it. The renowned election expert and lawyer by training was arrested in August 2023 and has been in custody ever since. Ella Pamfilova, chair of Russia's Central Election Commission, the country's main election authority, spoke out in his support at the time, telling Russian business daily Vedomosti about the case: "I would really like to hope that they will handle this objectively. Because his criticism, often professional, helped us a lot sometimes." Independent journalists, critics, activists and opposition figures in Russia have come under increasing pressure from the government in recent years that intensified significantly amid the war in Ukraine. Multiple independent news outlets and rights groups have been shut down, labeled as "foreign agents" or outlawed as "undesirable." Hundreds of activists and critics of the Kremlin have faced criminal charges. Melkonyants' defense team said after the verdict that they will appeal. Lawyer Mikhail Biryukov told reporters that "there is no evidence" in the case that he and others on the defense team consider "politically motivated, pretentious." "We will fight for Grigory's freedom, because an illegal, unjust verdict should not exist. It should not stand (in the appeal proceedings). We all hope that the law will prevail," Biryukov said. With the time Melkonyants has already spent in detention taken into account, he will have to serve less than half of the term he was handed down, according to Mediazona. Memorial, Russia's prominent human rights group that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, has designated Melkonyants as a political prisoner .
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
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.
CBC
14-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Head of Russia's only independent election watchdog receives 5-year prison sentence
The head of Russia's only independent election watchdog was sentenced on Wednesday to five years in a penal colony after being found guilty of working with an "undesirable organization." Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of the Golos movement, was arrested in August 2023. He pleaded not guilty at his trial. Human rights campaigners say the case against the 44-year-old is part of a wider crackdown on civil society that has intensified since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. News outlet Mediazona said Melkonyants called out to supporters in the courtroom and urged them not to be downhearted over the verdict. Golos, which means both "voice" and "vote" in Russian, first angered the authorities by publicizing evidence of what it said was fraud in a 2011 parliamentary election that led to opposition protests, and then in the presidential vote that returned Vladimir Putin to the Kremlin for a third term in 2012. The charges against Melkonyants were based on his alleged involvement with the Montenegro-based European Network of Election Monitoring Organisations, which links watchdogs in former communist countries in Europe and Central Asia. ENEMO did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Golos says it has had no interaction with ENEMO since Russia banned the latter as "undesirable" in 2021. "This absurd case [against Melkonyants] defies easy explanation, not only for foreigners but even for ourselves," Golos co-chair Stanislav Andreichuk told Reuters. Despite being designated as a "foreign agent," Golos continues its work in Russia. "Even though things are getting tougher, we're still doing what we do," Andreichuk said. Last year, Golos described the 2024 election that returned Putin for a fifth term with more than 88 per cent of the vote as the most fraudulent and corrupt in the country's history. The Kremlin said the result showed that the Russian people had "consolidated" around Putin, and Western attempts to portray the election as illegitimate were absurd. Andreichuk said the Melkonyants trial should matter to the outside world, because Golos's work was part of a struggle for democracy. "A real democracy in Russia wouldn't be a military threat. But an authoritarian government will keep threatening its neighbours," he said. Rights group OVD-Info says more than 1,600 people are currently imprisoned in Russia on political grounds. The Kremlin says it does not comment on individual cases, but that Russia needs to uphold its laws and protect itself against subversive activity.
Time of India
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Who is Grigory Melkonyants? Russian election watchdog leader sentenced to five years in prison
Who is Grigory Melkonyants? Russian election watchdog leader sentenced to five years in prison (Photo: AP) A Moscow court on Wednesday sentenced Grigory Melkonyants , co-chair of the independent election monitoring group Golos , to five years in prison on charges of organizing the activities of an 'undesirable' organization, a charge widely condemned by human rights advocates as politically motivated. Melkonyants, who was arrested in August 2023, has pleaded innocent throughout his trial. Prosecutors accused him of continuing cooperation with the Montenegro-based European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations ( ENEMO ), which was designated 'undesirable' by Russian authorities in 2021. Judge Evgeniya Nikolaeva of Moscow's Basmanny District Court found Melkonyants guilty of working with ENEMO and imposed additional restrictions beyond the prison sentence. According to exiled independent news outlet Mediazona, the court also barred Melkonyants from engaging in any 'public activity' for nine years following his release. The case is part of a broader campaign against political critics that the Kremlin has intensified since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Melkonyants and Golos have both rejected the charges as politically driven. Golos, which has documented election violations across Russia since its founding in 2000, has long been targeted by authorities. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like AI guru Andrew Ng recommends: Read These 5 Books And Turn Your Life Around in 2025 Blinkist: Andrew Ng's Reading List Undo It was labeled a 'foreign agent' in 2013, a designation carrying stigma and increased scrutiny, and was dissolved as a non-governmental organization by the Justice Ministry in 2016. The group has continued to operate informally as an and was added in 2021 to a registry for unregistered 'foreign agents. ' While Golos itself has not been declared 'undesirable,' prosecutors argued that its past association with ENEMO, of which it was a member as an NGO before its liquidation, provided grounds for Melkonyants's prosecution. In recent years, Russian authorities have ramped up efforts to silence independent voices. Numerous media outlets and human rights organizations have been shut down, branded as 'foreign agents,' or outlawed as 'undesirable,' while hundreds of activists, journalists, and opposition figures face criminal prosecution. Melkonyants's sentencing has drawn sharp criticism from international observers, who see it as further evidence of Russia's erosion of democratic norms and civil liberties.
