The judge of the Basmanny Court of Moscow, Evgenia Nikolaeva, sentenced the co-chair of the "Golos" movement, Grigory Melkonyants, to 5 years in a general regime colony on charges of organizing the activities of an "undesirable" organization, reported a "Mediazona"* correspondent from the courtroom. In addition, he was banned from public activity for 9 years after serving the main term.
The court credited Melkonyants with the time he spent in pre-trial detention, using the "day for a day and a half" formula, so out of five years, about two and a half are already considered served, notes "Mediazona".
The prosecution requested the maximum term under this article — six years and a ten-year ban on public activity. Melkonyants has been under arrest since August 2023.
The co-chair of "Golos"* Grigory Melkonyants was charged with organizing the activities of an "undesirable" organization — the movement ENEMO. However, neither the "Golos" movement nor its predecessor — the association "Golos" liquidated after being included in the "foreign agents" registry — have ever been declared "undesirable" organizations by the Russian authorities. Moreover, ENEMO itself cannot be considered an "organization" — it has no legal entity. Furthermore, during the process, it was revealed 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.
However, this did not prevent the prosecution from stating in the debates that it considers Melkonyants' guilt proven, including based on the testimony of witnesses and examined documents and screenshots presented in court.
In his final statement, Grigory Melkonyants said that the investigators constructed a unique situation: "For the first time in the history of our country, they want to make the meeting room of the Central Election Commission of Russia the crime scene, and declare the expert who spoke there a criminal."
About 70 people gathered for the announcement of the sentence, including representatives of the embassies of the USA, Czech Republic, Norway, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany, as well as politicians and human rights activists. The court, following the investigation, constructed a unique situation — sentenced an election expert to five years in a colony.
* Recognized in Russia as "foreign agents".
Photo: Mediazona