To joy. Grigory Melkonyants of Golos election monitoring movement delivers his final statement before receiving 5‑year prison sentence
Grigory Melkonyants. Photo: Alexandra Astakhova / Mediazona The trial of Grigory Melkonyants, a prominent Russian election expert and co-chair of Golos, an independent election monitoring movement, is concluding in Moscow’s Basmanny Court. Prosecutors demanded a six-year prison sentence, the maximum possible, on charges of “organising the activities of an undesirable organisation”; on May 14, Melkonyants was sentenced to 5 years in prison.