Golos co-chair Grigory Melkonyants awaits his verdict in a Moscow court on 14 May 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE/SERGEI ILNITSKY

Golos, a Russian independent election monitoring and voters’ rights movement, is to cease its activities, it announced on its website on Tuesday.

The decision was made after co-chairman Grigory Melkonyants was sentenced to five years in prison in May for enabling the activities of an “undesirable” organisation.

In its statement, Golos said that the court sentence, which its defence team had had difficulty getting a copy of, “effectively equated” Golos with the European Network of Election Monitoring Organisations (ENEMO), which Russia declared an “undesirable” organisation in 2021.

“The court decision leaves us no choice, as it puts not only Golos team members at risk of criminal prosecution, but also anyone who has even asked us for advice or legal assistance. Furthermore, the arrest and imprisonment of our friend and colleague Grigory Melkonyants had one sole intention — to silence Golos,” the statement read.

All regional branches of Golos will be wound down, and all the movement’s projects and information services will be stopped. Donations to Golos will also be suspended, it said.

The team recommended anyone living in or planning to visit Russia not to repost material from its website or social media pages and to delete any past reposts to avoid the risk of prosecution for distributing the materials of an undesirable organisation.

“Alas, justice does not always win. You have to fight for it. And there’s always a risk you’ll lose. That’s what’s happened this time. Farewell,” the team wrote.