Gutarov Leonid Andreevich

On November 8, 2023, Leonid Gutarov was detained in Moscow. According to the investigation, on the eve of November 7, a man, being on the landing of an entrance of a residential building at the address of residence of journalist Alexander Kotz and his spouse, tried to exert psychological influence on the journalist's spouse. Law enforcement officials interpreted the man's actions as obstructing the professional activities of a journalist and opened a criminal case. The next day, the court placed Gutarov under house arrest. A month later, the charge was reclassified as a violation of privacy. According to the investigation, the Muscovite 'collected information for a fee' about Kotse to pass it on to an accomplice. According to the Investigative Committee's version, in early November the accused "secretly conducted surveillance of the journalist's family members' residence" and "by deceptive means attempted to obtain information from the journalist's spouse about his professional activities. For his "work" Gutarov allegedly received 5 thousand rubles per day. On December 26, 2023, a magistrate judge of Moscow Court District No. 95 found Leonid Gutarov guilty and sentenced him to 1 year of imprisonment in a general regime colony and deprivation of the right to publish data on the Internet for 2 years. On July 31, 2023, the Butyrsky District Court of Moscow left the sentence unchanged.