Translated material
“A harsh sentence for an innocent man”: Russia upholds sentence of election rights advocate Grigory Melkonyants
Photo: AFP
The Moscow City Court has upheld the sentence against Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of the election rights advocacy movement Golos (“Vote”). Melkonyants was convicted of participating in the activities of an “undesirable” organization — namely, the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO) — RusNewsreports. In May 2025, the Basmanny District Court sentenced Melkonyants to five years in a general-security penal colony; his defense appealed the ruling.
At the appellate court hearing, Melkonyants delivered a final statement in which he criticized the work of the prosecutor’s office and the court, calling their approach to sentencing “careless.” The Insider is publishing selected excerpts from Melkonyants’s final statement.
“Your Honor, esteemed participants in the proceedings, dear friends!
I love people, believe in people, and hope that people understand the full, immense weight of the consequences of depriving someone of their freedom. A brief ‘taste’ of prison may sometimes be useful, but a long term of imprisonment undermines health, destroys social ties, and, no less importantly, causes one to stop fearing prison. That is why 60 percent of those released end up behind bars again.
But there is another statistic. Repeat offenses occur four times less often when sentences imposed do not involve isolation from society.”
…
“The entire prosecution is based on the claim that the Golos movement is a structural subdivision — an integral part — of ENEMO, the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations, whose activities have been designated undesirable in Russia. That would mean the movement was created and run by that organization, which has never been the case. Moreover, the court has effectively acknowledged that it failed to establish this. In the reasoning of the verdict, the court limited itself to the assumption that Golos is either a structural subdivision or a partner of ENEMO. The keyword here is ‘or.’ Under the law, a verdict cannot be based on such assumptions. A partner and a structural subdivision are two entirely different legal statuses.
Another assumption made by the court is no less striking. I quote from the verdict: ‘The court also draws attention to foreign funding: ENEMO and the Golos movement are allegedly supported by American and European organizations.’ The keyword here is ‘allegedly.’”
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“Dear friends!
The Constitution of Russia formulates our national idea and lays the foundations of our statehood. It establishes that human and civil rights and freedoms define the meaning, content, and application of laws, the activities of legislative and executive authorities, and local self-government, and are ensured by the judiciary. For me, these are not empty words, and I hope they are not for you either. Today, the concept of human rights represents the pinnacle of philosophical, ethical, and legal thought of humanity; it is the very pillar that gives me incredible strength. It has absorbed all the pain of generations who went through wars and mass killings, through violence, through the suffering caused by people who destroyed their own kind. But the concept of human rights would not be possible without teachings on goodness — from Aristotle and Christ to Kant and Tolstoy, and without the magnificent examples of the human spirit soaring: Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, Picasso’s paintings, Einstein’s scientific insights, Korolev’s engineering achievements. Yet, unfortunately, even today many cynically treat human rights as a suitcase without a handle: too heavy to carry, yet too precious to throw away. For them, human rights are empty, meaningless words, stripped of any value. This is alarming, as it ultimately leads to tragic consequences.”
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“Each of us can do a great deal of good if we believe in our own strength and choose to spend our energy and time not on doubts and worries, but on action. There is no fate except that which we choose through our deeds.
On the wall of the prison yard, someone wrote: ‘Good prevails.’ These seemingly simple words supported my outlook on life at the right moment: to treat people the way you want to be treated, and to choose the kindest option when solving problems. Being a good person is harder than being evil, but it is worth it. Kindness is not weakness; kindness is strength. Kindness brings joy, love, and happiness. A flow of kindness disarms.
Kindness prevails.”
Grigory Melkonyants has been in custody since August 2023 over his work with the election monitoring organization ENEMO, which is linked to the Golos Association.
Melkonyants’ defense argued that at the time ENEMO was designated as “undesirable,” the Golos Association had already been dissolved following its inclusion in Russia’s registry of “foreign agents.” The public movement of the same name, the lawyers noted, is not part of ENEMO and cannot be considered an organization, as it lacks a legal entity.
Diplomatic staff from the embassies of the U.S., France, the Czech Republic, Norway, Switzerland, Austria, and New Zealand, as well as a representative of the European Union, attended the announcement of Melkonyants’s sentence in May.
In July, the Golos movement announced the cessation of its activities, dissolved all regional branches, terminated all projects, and shut down its information resources, including the website and the “Violation Maps.”
“Due to the court’s verdict in the criminal case against Grigory Melkonyants, we can no longer continue this work. The persecution of the election monitoring community and the Golos movement has become another measure aimed at undermining the constitutional foundations of the country,” the organization stated.
The Golos Association was established in 2000 and transformed into a public movement in 2013.
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