The court extended the arrest of the co-chairman of “Holos” for three months

The Basmanny Court of Moscow extended the arrest for three months of the co-chairman of the “Voice” movement Hryhoriy Melkonyants, accused of cooperation with an “undesirable” organization. He will stay in the SIZO until at least July 17.

Melkonjanc was detained and then arrested in August of last year. The “undesirable organization” with which he is accused is the European election monitoring organization network ENEMO. In “Golosa” they insist that they have no relation to it for a long time, and consider the arrest of Melkonyants a revenge of the authorities for his activity in detecting falsifications in the Russian elections.

According to the co-chairman of “Holos” himself, for 8 months the investigation has not provided any evidence of his guilt and continues to unnecessarily delay the process.

• The movement for the protection of the rights of voters “Voice”, which is engaged in independent monitoring of elections in Russia, was created in 2013 by members of the association of the same name, founded thirteen years before, but liquidated after the Russian authorities recognized it as a “foreign agent”. On August 18, 2021, the Ministry of Justice recognized the “Golos” movement as a foreign agent. Last year, Roskomnadzor blocked his website due to the publication of “unreliable publicly significant information about the Russian military operation in Ukraine.”
• The Law on Undesirable Organizations, according to which they are prohibited from operating on the territory of Russia, has been in force in the country since 2015. Any non-governmental organization that, in the opinion of the Prosecutor General or his deputy, represents a “threat to the security of the state and the foundations of the constitutional system” may be considered undesirable. The authorities have already included more than 150 foreign NGOs and NGOs in the number of such organizations. For cooperation with them, citizens face long prison terms.