Russian election watchdog leader jailed amid crackdown on dissent
A Moscow court on Wednesday sentenced Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of Russia’s top independent election monitoring body, Golos, to five years in prison after convicting him of operating an 'undesirable' organization. Melkonyants, 44, has denied the allegations, calling them politically driven. Founded in 2000, Golos has consistently reported election irregularities across Russia.