Russian Election Expert Grigory Melkonyants Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison, State Media Report

The head of Russia’s only independent election watchdog was sentenced on Wednesday to five years in prison after being convicted of working with an “undesirable” organization, according to his attorney, charges that rights groups have criticized as politically driven.

Grigory Melkonyants, a co-founder of the Russian election monitoring group Golos, was jailed in 2023 after President Vladimir V. Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine and led a broad crackdown at home. Charged with “organizing the activities of an undesirable organization,” Mr. Melkonyants, 44, pleaded not guilty when his trial opened last September.

On Wednesday, he was convicted in a Moscow court and sentenced to five years in a prison colony, his lawyer, Mikhail Biryukov, told The New York Times. Mr. Biryukov said he planned to appeal, calling the verdict “politically motivated.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not losing hope,” Mr. Melkonyants told supporters and the press in the courtroom after the verdict, the independent Russian news outlet Mediazona reported.

Golos, which was founded in 2000 and documented widespread election fraud, was labeled a “foreign agent” by the Russian authorities in 2013. But the charges against Mr. Melkonyants relate to the group’s past affiliation with the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations, which the Russian authorities declared “undesirable” in 2021 — making any association with it a potential crime. Golos has said it terminated its participation with the association following the decision.

The “undesirable” label has been used to outlaw unwanted groups, including NGOs and media organizations, and crack down on dissent. But Mr. Melkonyants was apolitical, Roman Udot, a longtime colleague who lives in exile, said.

He noted that while countless civil activists fled Russia following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Mr. Melkonyants insisted on staying put and focusing on his expertise, without taking sides.

Leonid Volkov, a close associate of Mr. Navalny, on Wednesday condemned the verdict.

“Golos gave rise to a massive election monitoring movement in Russia in 2011, then the protests began which gave Putin quite a scare: So many years have passed — and he still seeks revenge,” he wrote on social media.

After mounting pressure from the Russian authorities, Golos was designated a foreign agent in 2013. Three years later, Russia’s Justice Ministry used the designation to force Golos to shut down, although it restarted under a new legal entity. After the war in Ukraine began, the Russian authorities cracked down harder on the group.

Human rights officials and organizations were quick to condemn Wednesday’s verdict as politically driven. Britain’s human rights ambassador, Eleanor Sanders, said it served as “another reminder of the Kremlin’s repression,” while Norway’s Foreign Ministry said it demonstrated the “continued authoritarian path” in Russia.

Amnesty International — which had listed Mr. Melkonyants as a prisoner of conscience — said the verdict was “appalling” and called for the conviction to be quashed.

“Melkonyants has committed no crime — his only ‘offense’ was defending the right to free and fair elections in Russia,” Marie Struthers, the organization’s director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said in a statement. “This is nothing more than a brazen and politically motivated clampdown on peaceful activism.”