Russia charges leader of a prominent election watchdog
Source: Associated Press
Russia charges leader of a prominent election watchdog
Updated 3:17 PM EDT, August 17, 2023
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian authorities have charged one of the leaders of a prominent independent election monitoring group with being involved with an “undesirable” organization, his lawyer said Thursday.
The case against Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of Russia’s leading election watchdog Golos, is the latest in the monthslong crackdown on Kremlin critics and rights activists that the government ratcheted up after sending troops into Ukraine.
Melkonyants’ lawyer Mikhail Biryukov told The Associated Press that his client was charged and detained until Friday, when he is scheduled to appear in Moscow’s Basmanny District Court. He faces up to six years in prison.
Golos has not been labeled “undesirable” — a label that under a 2015 law makes involvement with such organizations a criminal offense. But it was once a member of the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations, a group that was declared “undesirable” in Russia in 2021.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-kremlin-crackdown-election-watchdog-golos-d41a887dfe4bc938972ad0c32a0016df
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