Independent Russian election monitoring group announces its closure after jailing of chairman

LONDON (Reuters) -Russia's only independent election watchdog said on Tuesday it was closing down after a court jailed its co-chairman for five years in May after finding him guilty of working with an "undesirable organisation".

Golos, which means both "voice" and "vote" in Russian, first angered the authorities by publicising evidence of what it said was fraud in a 2011 parliamentary election that led to opposition protests. It also sharply criticised the conduct of presidential elections in 2012 and 2024.

The authorities rejected those accusations of fraud and later designated Golos as a "foreign agent," a negative and burdensome designation with Soviet-era connotations of espionage.

Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of the Golos movement, was sentenced to five years in a penal colony in May after being found guilty of working with an "undesirable organisation". He denied wrongdoing.

Golos said on Tuesday that the jailing of Melkonyants - which it said was aimed at muzzling it - and the authorities' hostility to its activities had left it with no option but to close down even though it believed it had been providing a valuable non-partisan service to Russia.

"This court decision leaves us no choice as it puts not only all participants of Golos at risk of criminal prosecution, but even those people who simply applied for counselling and legal assistance," the group said in a statement.

"Justice, alas, does not always win - it must be fought for. And there is always a risk of losing. This time it happened like this."

(Reporting by Andrew OsbornEditing by Guy Faulconbridge)