Today, Karachay-Cherkessia commemorates the 69th anniversary of the return of the Karachay people, deported by Joseph Stalin during the Soviet era. This momentous event occurred on May 3, 1957, when the first train carrying Karachays returning to their historical homeland arrived at the autonomous republic's railway station.
The co-chairman of the movement for the protection of voters' rights "Voice" Grigory Melkonyants was sent to the Koma colony. In May, the Basmanny Court of Moscow sentenced him to five years in the colony.
Melkonyants was found guilty of organizing the work of an "undesirable" organization. Earlier, he emphasized in court that the actual event of the crime is absent in the criminal case. The "Voice" movement trained observers and monitored violations in Russian political elections.
According to the investigation, Golos was part of the structure of the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO), which was declared "undesirable" in Russia.
Grigory Melkonyants' father, Arkady Amayakovych, is an Armenian and was the founder and head of the "Soul Ecology" foundation. He was engaged in providing material and social assistance to the disabled and the sick.
Recently, the "Voice" movement announced its dissolution due to the threat of political persecution of its members.