May 14 (UPI) -- A Russian court on Wednesday sentenced well-known election watchdog Grigory Melkonyants to five years in prison after it found him guilty of allegedly working for a so-called "undesirable" organization.
"Don't worry, I'm not despairing," Melkonyants was quoted telling supporters after the sentence was handed down by Moscow's Basmanny District Court in a latest blow to free speech in Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime.
"You shouldn't despair either!" he reportedly stated.
Melkonyants, who has been in custody since his August 2023 arrest, co-founded Russia's most respected and prominent election monitoring group which in 2013 was designated as a "foreign agent" by Russian authorities.
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