Gusein Gasanov to Be Tried for Money Laundering

The prosecutor«s office of the Southern Administrative District of Moscow has approved the indictment in the criminal case against blogger Gusein Gasanov. On February 2, the case on money laundering obtained by criminal means (Part 4, Article 174.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) was sent to court.

The case has been assigned to the Presnensky District Court of the capital. The trial will proceed without the defendant, as Gasanov is on the federal wanted list and has been arrested in absentia.

According to the investigation, Gasanov is accused of tax evasion as an individual entrepreneur. The amount of unpaid taxes exceeds 170 million rubles (about $1.9 million at current rates). To legalize these funds, as law enforcement claims, the blogger conducted a series of financial operations and concluded a deal to purchase real estate. The property on 1st Krasnogvardeysky Proyezd was bought for more than 68 million rubles (about $760,000 at current rates).

The blogger«s defense disagrees with the charges and insists that there is no corpus delicti. His lawyer, Dmitry Kozyakin, reported that he filed a motion to dismiss the case, which never received a response. In the lawyer»s opinion, the prosecutor«s office had grounds to return the case for revision, but instead, the indictment was approved.

Gusein Gasanov himself responded to the preventive measure of arrest in absentia in 2025 by publishing a comment on his social media. «I saw the news. Yes, it sounds loud — »arrest in absentia,« but in reality, it»s not so dramatic,« wrote the blogger.