Russian court jails prominent election monitoring activist for 5 years

A court in Moscow on Wednesday convicted one of the leaders of a prominent independent election monitoring group on charges of organizing the work of an “undesirable” organization and sentenced him to five years in prison.

Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of Russia’s leading election watchdog Golos, has rejected the charges as politically motivated. The case against him is part of the monthslong crackdown on Kremlin critics and rights activists that the government ratcheted up after invading Ukraine in 2022.

After a judge of the Basmanny District Court delivered the verdict, Melkonyants, 44, told several dozen supporters and journalists from the glass defendant's cage: “Don't worry, I'm not despairing. You shouldn't despair either!”

Golos has monitored for and exposed violations in every major election in Russia since it was founded in 2000. Over the years, it has faced mounting pressure from the authorities.

In 2013, the group was designated as a “foreign agent” — a label that implies additional government scrutiny and carries strong pejorative connotations. Three years later, it was liquidated as a non-governmental organization by Russia’s Justice Ministry.

Golos has continued to operate without registering as an NGO, exposing violations in various elections, and in 2021 it was added to a new registry of “foreign agents,” created by the Justice Ministry for groups that are not registered as a legal entity in Russia.

It has not been designated as “undesirable” — a label that under a 2015 law makes involvement with such organizations a criminal offense. But when it was an NGO, it was a member of the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations, or ENEMO, a group that was declared “undesirable” in Russia in 2021, and the charges against Melkonyants stemmed from that.

In his closing statement to the court on Monday, published in full by independent news outlets Mediazona and Meduza, Melkonyants talked about how rights and freedoms often are taken for granted but look very different from “behind bars,” and it’s clear how much one must constantly “protect and defend” them.

The defense argued that when ENEMO was outlawed in Russia, Golos wasn't a member, and Melkonyants had nothing to do with it. The renowned election expert and lawyer by training was arrested in August 2023 and has been in custody ever since.

Ella Pamfilova, chair of Russia's Central Election Commission, the country's main election authority, spoke out in his support at the time, telling Russian business daily Vedomosti about the case: “I would really like to hope that they will handle this objectively. Because his criticism, often professional, helped us a lot sometimes.”

Independent journalists, critics, activists and opposition figures in Russia have come under increasing pressure from the government in recent years that intensified significantly amid the war in Ukraine.

Multiple independent news outlets and rights groups have been shut down, labeled as “foreign agents” or outlawed as “undesirable.” Hundreds of activists and critics of the Kremlin have faced criminal charges.

Melkonyants' defense team said after the verdict that they will appeal. Lawyer Mikhail Biryukov told reporters that “there is no evidence" in the case that he and others on the defense team consider “politically motivated, pretentious.”

"We will fight for Grigory’s freedom, because an illegal, unjust verdict should not exist. It should not stand (in the appeal proceedings). We all hope that the law will prevail,” Biryukov said.

With the time Melkonyants has already spent in detention taken into account, he will have to serve less than half of the term he was handed down, according to Mediazona.

Memorial, Russia's prominent human rights group that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, has designated Melkonyants as a political prisoner.

Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of Russia's leading independent election monitoring group Golos looks at the media as he stands in a cage in a courtroom prior to a hearing in Basmanny district court in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of Russia's leading independent election monitoring group Golos looks at the media as he stands in a cage in a courtroom prior to a hearing in Basmanny district court in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of Russia's leading independent election monitoring group Golos looks at the media standing in a cage in a courtroom prior to a hearing in Basmanny district court in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of Russia's leading independent election monitoring group Golos who faces up to six years in prison, looks at the media standing in a cage in a courtroom prior to a hearing in Basmanny district court in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)