Source: HRO.org (info), 02/12/11

· Electoral rights  · Human rights defenders

The authorities wish to intimidate Golos, an NGO that monitors election violations. Tatyana Lokshina, deputy head of the Moscow office of Human Rights Watch, comments on the prosecutors’ visit to the offices of Golos.

“They want to intimidate Golos, they want to make Golos keep quiet, they actually want to close the organization, they are not allowing it to do its work,” Grani.ru quotes Tatyana Lokshina as saying.

“In the past few days, Golos has been put under very strong and aggressive pressure. We consider this situation to be extremely worrying. Intimidation of this kind – whether using legal or illegal methods – is impermissible. Golos is the only serious Russian organization that monitors violations during the election campaign. The work that it does spoils the pre-election scenario for the authorities,” Tatyana Lokshina concluded.