Today, the hearings began in the Basmanny Court on the case of the co-chairman of the election monitoring movement 'Golos', Grigory Melkonyants, who is accused of organizing the activities of an 'undesirable' organization — the movement ENEMO. At the same time, neither the 'Golos' movement nor its predecessor — the association 'Golos', liquidated after being included in the register of 'foreign agents' — have ever been declared 'undesirable' organizations by the Russian authorities. And ENEMO itself cannot be considered an 'organization' in principle — it has no legal entity.
During the process, it turned out that witnesses for the prosecution do not see the difference between the 'undesirable' ENEMO website and the 'Golos' website, which undermines the entire basis of the accusation.
The defense requested to summon the head of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, to court, as one of the episodes of the accusation was Melkonyants' speech at the CEC. The court refused to summon Pamfilova due to the 'impossibility of ensuring the appearance of an official', stating that it would issue a subpoena to the defense, which would have to send it to the CEC independently. However, Ella Pamfilova never appeared at the hearings.
As reported by the 'Mediazona' correspondent* from the courtroom, during the hearings, the prosecution repeated its theses: the 'Golos' movement was allegedly created 'on the basis of' the eponymous association, which was later declared 'undesirable' ENEMO. 'Subsequently, Melkonyants did not abandon the activity', explained prosecutor Frolova the main crime of the co-chairman of 'Golos'. The prosecution considers Melkonyants' guilt proven, including based on the testimony of witnesses and the examined documents and screenshots presented in court, stated Frolova.
After that, she requested the maximum sentence for Grigory Melkonyants under this article — six years in a general regime colony. In addition, she petitioned to prohibit Melkonyants from engaging in public activities for ten years.
Melkonyants has been under arrest since August 2023.
* Recognized as a 'foreign agent' in Russia.
Photo: Alexandra Astakhova/Mediazona