UN expert calls for release of incarcerated Russia election monitor News
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UN expert calls for release of incarcerated Russia election monitor

The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, Mariana Katzarova, called on Thursday for the release of Grigory Melkonyants, a lawyer and one of the most famous experts on election legislation and process in Russia. The statement comes in response to the sentencing of Melkonyants to five years in prison by the Basmanny Court of Moscow last week.

Katzarova categorized the sentencing of Melkonyants as a “grave miscarriage of justice and a blatant attempt to silence one of Russia’s critical voices for electoral transparency.” The UN Special Rapporteur identified the charges to be politically motivated, and pointed out the problematic misrepresented evidence, reliance on outdated website data, and disregard for timelines during the trial. Katzarova also highlighted that Melkonyants was held in pre-trial detention for over a year when the prosecution “failed to demonstrate that Melkonyants posed any risk to the investigation.”

The UN Special Rapporteur connected the sentencing of Melkonyants to the crackdown on rights organizations by Russian authorities since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. She asserted:

Melkonyants is being punished not for a crime, but for his steadfast commitment to human rights and safeguarding the principle of free and fair elections in Russia… For over 20 years, ‘Golos’ has advanced electoral transparency and reform in Russia.

Melkonyants’ arrest was centered on his involvement with the Golos movement, an election watchdog, which is considered to be a “foreign agent.” Melkonyants, who was classified as a political prisoner by an independent human rights organization, was arrested in 2023, a month before the election and two days after Golos published a YouTube program claiming that the Russian elections in annexed Ukrainian territories would be legally non-binding. 

The UN expert emphasized that several instruments of international law were violated by the sentencing of Melkonyants. Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which the Russian Federation is a party, protects freedom of expression, specifically identifying that everyone has the right to hold opinions. Katzarova also criticized Russian legislation, claiming that laws on foreign agents and undesirable organizations criminalize international cooperation and civic engagement. She also brought up that earlier this month, Russian authorities declared Amnesty International as an undesirable organization for “backing Ukraine against Russia, promoting Russophobic narratives, and financing ‘extremists’ and ‘foreign agents’.”

During his last appearance in court, Melkonyants identified the experience as exciting. He recalled his experience living in three prisons, twelve cells, having over a hundred cellmates, and participating in 26 court proceedings. He also pointed out inconsistencies in his trial with the Russian Constitution. 

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