The “Golos” movement has announced that it is ceasing its activities.

The “Golos” movement has ceased its activities and has disbanded all regional branches, according to a statement published on its official website.

The human rights defenders made this decision after reviewing the sentence of “Golos” co-chair Grigory Melkonyants, who was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of leading an “undesirable” organisation (Part 3, Article 284.1 of the Russian Criminal Code). “In this ruling, the court effectively equates ‘Golos’ with the organisation ENEMO, which has been declared ‘undesirable’ but which has never observed elections or conducted any activities in Russia,” the statement said.

“Golos” announced that its officers’ powers have been terminated, and its information resources and donation system shut down. The movement advised people living in Russia or planning to visit to delete any reposts of its publications from their social media accounts.

“Unfortunately, justice does not always prevail—it has to be fought for. And there is always the risk of losing. This time, that’s how it turned out. Farewell,” the statement concluded.

• Grigory Melkonyants was found guilty of organising the activities of the European Network of Election Monitoring Organisations (ENEMO) in Russia, which was declared “undesirable” in 2021. Investigators and the court considered “Golos” to be a structural branch of ENEMO. “Golos” itself denied this, explaining that ENEMO was founded by the Golos Association, which in practice ceased to exist after being declared a “foreign agent” in 2013 and was officially dissolved in 2020. In turn, the “Golos” movement, created in 2013, did not join ENEMO and was not one of its founders. Melkonyants headed this movement specifically.