Leonid Gozman
Leonid Gozman, born 1950, Moscow. Charges: Article 205.2 part 2, Russian Criminal Code (Public incitement to terrorism or justification of terrorism (using media or the internet)); “Leonid Gozman’s case of public justification of terrorism”, opened on January 22, 2025. Sentence: 10 years; previously convicted under Article 207.3 part 2 item d, Russian Criminal Code. Status: not in Russia.
In brief
Moscow · Moscow · Politicians · Anti-war cases, Terrorism cases, Cases against "foreign agents"
Sentence
8 years 6 months
8 years and 6 months’ imprisonment in a general regime penal colony (in absentia) with a 4-year ban on activities related to administering websites
Upheld November 7, 2024
Other verdicts
- Ban on activity, Imprisonment (in absentia) — 10 years
Charges
- Article 330.2, Russian Criminal Code — Failure to notify of foreign citizenship or permanent residence in a foreign state
- Article 205.2 part 2, Russian Criminal Code — Public incitement to terrorism or justification of terrorism (using media or the internet)
- Article 205.4 (part unknown), Russian Criminal Code — Organisation of a terrorist community and participation in it
- Article 278, Russian Criminal Code — Violent seizure of power or alteration of the constitutional order
- Article 207.3 part 2 item d, Russian Criminal Code — Dissemination of false information about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, government agencies, or mercenaries (based on political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred or enmity, or on grounds of hatred or enmity in relation to any social group)
Full wording of the charges
According to the investigation, Leonid Gozman failed to notify the authorities about obtaining an Israeli citizenship in a timely manner in 2018.
Latest event
January 22, 2025 — added to the rosfinmonitoring list of “terrorists and extremists”
Timeline
· Added to the Rosfinmonitoring list of “terrorists and extremists”
· Criminal case opened
Leonid Gozman’s case of public justification of terrorism
· Criminal case opened
The case of Anti-War Committee of Russia
· Appeal ruling
upheld
· First-instance verdict
guilty verdict · 8 years 6 months
· Preventive measure: arrest in absentia
· Criminal case opened
Leonid Gozman’s case of “fakes” about the Russian Armed Forces
· Added to the register of “foreign agents”
· Persecution begins
Leonid Gozman’s case of concealing his second citizenship
Criminal case
Leonid Gozman’s case of “fakes” about the Russian Armed Forces
- Case number
- 01-0221/2024
Thematic group: Anti-war case
Leonid Gozman’s case of public justification of terrorism
Thematic group: Anti-war case
Leonid Gozman’s case of concealing his second citizenship
The case of Anti-War Committee of Russia
Other defendants in the case
- Sergei Aleksashenko — Not in Russia
- Marat Gelman — Not in Russia
- Dmitry Gudkov — Not in Russia
- Sergei Guriev — Not in Russia
- Boris Zimin — Not in Russia
- Vladimir Kara-Murza — Not in Russia
- Garry Kasparov — Not in Russia
- Mikhail Kasianov — Not in Russia
- Evgenii Kiselev — Not in Russia
- Mikhail Kokorich — Not in Russia
- Evgenii Kunin — Not in Russia
- Elena Lukyanova — Not in Russia
- Kirill Martynov — Not in Russia
- Yuri Pivovarov — Not in Russia
- Maxim Reznik — Not in Russia
- Artur Smolianinov — Not in Russia
- Mikhail Khodorkovsky — Not in Russia
- Evgenii Chichvarkin — Not in Russia
- Konstantin Chumakov — Not in Russia
- Anastasia Shevchenko — Not in Russia
- Viktor Shenderovich — Not in Russia
- Ekaterina Shulman — Not in Russia
Thematic group: Anti-war case
Details and sources
Full summary
He is a politician, a public figure and a psychologist. In the past, he was one of the leaders of the Union of Right Forces party and later led the Right Cause. In April 2022, a case was initiated against him for failure to notify the authorities of his foreign citizenship, but the information was made public as late as 15 July. The politician was detained and questioned by the Investigative Committee and was released afterwards. Gozman was detained again on 25 July, and after that an arrest warrant was reported to have been issued for him. However, he was then released, and the investigator apologised and said that there had been a mistake. On 30 August, Gozman was arrested for 15 days under the article on equating the actions of the USSR with those of Nazi Germany (Part 1 of Article 13.48 of the Code of Administrative Offences) for a post he had made on Facebook. On 13 September, he was detained on his way out of the special detention centre and the next day was arrested for the same period under the 2nd part of the same article (a repeated offence) for an online post dated 2013. After that Gozman left Russia.
In December 2023, a case was reported to have been initiated against Gozman for spreading deliberately false information about the Armed Forces. On 11 July 2024, he was sentenced in absentia to eight and a half years in this case.
In January 2025, Gozman was included in the list of extremists and terrorists of Rosfinmonitoring with a mark that is placed at the names of people prosecuted under terrorist articles. A case of public justification of terrorism was later reported to have beein initiated against him for his interview in the Russian-language version of the Bild newspaper about Ukrainian drone attacks and the explosion on the Crimean Bridge.
On 14 October 2025, the FSB reported about the initiation of a case against Gozman and other members of the Anti-War Committee of Russia for a violent seizure of power and organising the activities of a terrorist community. The basis for initiating the case was the adoption of the Berlin Declaration on the need for a change of power in Russia.
On 14 November, the court sentenced Gozman in absentia to ten years of imprisonment in the case of justification of terrorism. The sentence was imposed in conjunction with the punishment in the case of war-related “fakes”.
All fields of the record
- Citizenship
- Russia
- Preventive measures
- arrest in absentia
- Persecution episodes
- 4
Other people prosecuted under Article 205.2 part 2, Russian Criminal Code
Under the same article, not necessarily in the same case.