Gleb Yarovoy

❗️Lithuania Strips Russian Human-Rights Lawyer of Residency for Visiting His Son in Belarus Lithuania has revoked the residence permit of Russian human-rights lawyer Mikhail Benyash — known for defending political prisoners, anti-war protesters, and soldiers refusing to fight in Ukraine — after two short trips to Minsk in August 2025 to pick up and return his young son. Under a Lithuanian law adopted in April 2025, Russian citizens holding residence permits are prohibited from travelling to Russia or Belarus more than once every three months. Exceptions are allowed only for “objective reasons for travel.” The law does not specify what qualifies as an objective reason, leaving the determination entirely to law-enforcement and administrative discretion. Lithuania’s Migration Department refused to take the lawyer’s personal circumstances into account and revoked his residence permit on purely formal grounds. The final court hearing in the case took place on December 2. The decision is expected to be announced in January. Who is Mikhail Benyash? Mikhail Benyash became well-known for defending political prisoners in the Krasnodar region and for participating in high-profile and often controversial court cases. In 2018, two criminal cases were opened against him, and he was placed in a pre-trial detention center for a month. In early 2021, his home was searched. In 2022, the Russian Ministry of Justice added Benyash to the list of “foreign agents.” In 2023, the human rights defender was stripped of his attorney status and fined for “discrediting the army.” After that, he moved to Vilnius, where he began working as a plumber. Mikhail Benyash repeatedly took part in election monitoring in the Krasnodar region and helped other observers challenge unlawful actions by electoral commissions. Interview with Benyash in Meduza, 2025 (English): meduza.io/en/feature/202… Statement by Lawyers for Lawyers on the conviction of Human Rights Lawyer Mikhail Benyash, 2023 (Eng): lawyersforlawyers.org/statement-on-t…

❗️ The Golos Movement Has Ceased to Exist – Full ENG Translation of the Original Statement 💬 The All-Russian Civic Movement in Defense of Voters' Rights “Golos” has ceased its activities This marks the end of a story which, according to the version presented by the investigation and the court, lasted 25 years. We want to thank everyone who, over the years, devoted their time and energy to ensuring the presence of effective institutions and honest elections in our country. Golos never saw its mission as supporting one political force or another—election observation is not a political activity. It is a means of protecting the constitutional order of Russia and the citizen’s right, guaranteed by the state, to participate in governance. Unfortunately, due to the verdict in the criminal case against Grigory Melkonyants, we are no longer able to do this. The persecution of the election monitoring community and the Golos movement has become yet another measure aimed at undermining the constitutional foundations of our country. The Basmanny Court of Moscow found our colleague, co-chair of Golos, Grigory Melkonyants, guilty of organizing the activities of a foreign or international organization that has been declared “undesirable” in the territory of the Russian Federation. The defense had been waiting for the official text of the verdict for some time and received it only recently. In it, the court effectively equates Golos with the organization ENEMO (European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations), which was declared undesirable, even though ENEMO has never observed elections or carried out any activity within Russia. At the same time, no evidence of illegal activity by Golos was presented in court, let alone any evidence of harm to the interests of the Russian Federation or its citizens. On the contrary, our work was deeply patriotic—it was about defending the true sovereignty of Russian citizens: their right to participate in the governance of their own country. Nonetheless, the court’s decision leaves no alternative. It creates the risk of criminal prosecution not only for all members of Golos, but even for individuals who may have simply contacted us for advice or legal assistance. Furthermore, the arrest and detention of our friend and colleague Grigory Melkonyants had a single goal: to silence Golos. So, in accordance with the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, we are voluntarily ceasing the activities of the Russian Movement in Defense of Voters’ Rights Golos. All regional branches of the Golos movement have been dissolved. The mandates of regional branch chairs, council members, members of audit commissions, members of the federal council, and co-chairs of the movement have been terminated. All projects created by the movement have been shut down. All information resources (the movement’s website, the “Violation Map,” and social media accounts) have been suspended and will no longer be updated. If you were subscribed to recurring donations through partner organizations that supported Golos, no further funds will be charged to your bank cards. For those currently in Russia or planning to visit, we recommend that you refrain from reposting content from the Golos website or its social media pages. If you have previously reposted such content, we strongly advise you to delete it so as not to give law enforcement any pretext to prosecute you for distributing materials from an “undesirable organization.” Justice, unfortunately, does not always prevail—it must be fought for. And there is always a risk of losing. This time, that’s how it turned out. Farewell. golosinfo.org/articles/155396 #RussianElections

⚡️ Grigory Melkonyants was asked for 6 years in prison on charges of organizing the activities of an undesirable organization Closing arguments are underway at the Basmanny Court in Moscow in the case of Grigory @Melkonyants, co-chair of the @golosinfo movement. Prosecutor Yekaterina Frolova has requested a six-year prison sentence. This is the maximum term under the article on organizing the activities of an “undesirable organization.” The prosecution claims that Melkonyants’ guilt has been proven, including through witness testimonies and documents and screenshots examined in court. During her arguments, Prosecutor Frolova repeated the accusation that the Golos movement was allegedly created “on the basis of” the association of the same name, which was part of the organization @ENEMOnetwork, later declared “undesirable.” According to Frolova, the defense called witnesses who “used the court session as a platform,” particularly singling out politician Boris #Nadezhdin. The state prosecutor argued that such witnesses did not provide any significant information. Today, Melkonyants is also expected to deliver his final statement. ❗️ On May 9, it was reported that Prosecutor Frolova was added to the EU sanctions list along with 27 judges, prosecutors, and investigators accused of human rights violations and repression in cases involving Alexei @Navalny, his associates, lawyers, journalists, and other activists.