The Cassation Court postponed the consideration of Grigory Melkonyants' case.

The Second Cassation Court returned the case of the co-chairman of the "Voice" movement* Grigory Melkonyants to the Basmanny Court of Moscow. Lawyer Oskar Cherdzhiev filed a petition for Melkonyants to be transferred to Moscow to familiarize himself with the materials of the criminal case.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", in mid-December, the Moscow City Court upheld the five-year sentence of co-chairman of the "Voice" movement* Grigory Melkonyants in appeal, rejecting the defense's arguments.

Today, the consideration of cassation complaints regarding Grigory Melkonyants' sentence was supposed to take place. However, the court decided to remove the case from consideration to eliminate obstacles, lawyer Oskar Cherdzhiev reported.

The main obstacle, which the defense also points out, is that Melkonyants was not familiarized with the materials of the criminal case and the audio recordings.

"In the court session, we pointed out this violation, but also said that we are interested in the prompt consideration of the complaint. However, the court decided to remove the case from consideration," the lawyer stated.

According to Cherdzhiev, the consideration of the case will be scheduled in about a month, when Melkonyants is familiarized with the protocol of the court session and the materials of the case, which he is not familiar with.

It should be noted that Grigory Melkonyants has been in custody since August 2023, and the time spent in the pre-trial detention center is counted at the rate of one day for one and a half. Thus, he has already served a significant part of the five-year sentence.

After the sentence, the "Voice" movement* announced its self-dissolution due to the threat of criminal prosecution for any forms of participation in its work and the cessation of all projects, including the "Map of Violations in Elections". In Russia, there are no more opportunities for independent monitoring of voting in elections, noted a political scientist.

In his last words, Melkonyants called his time in detention an "exciting stage" of life. "Here, in detention, I met many people whom I probably would never have met in ordinary life - people with different life experiences, different levels of education, and convicted under various articles. And every day we have to agree on how to live together: how to organize duty in the cell, whether to ventilate it or not, where to get a refrigerator or a kettle. Essentially, we are constantly conducting small referendums and reaching consensus," he said. "Caucasian Knot" published the full text of the last words of Grigory Melkonyants, recorded by a correspondent in the courtroom on May 12, 2025.

* included in the register of foreign agents.

** recognized as an undesirable organization in Russia.

*** the activities of the company Meta (owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) are banned in Russia.