Moscow mathematician Leonid Katz sent to pretrial detention in “treason” case after two months of back-to-back arrests and torture

Leonid Katz, a recent graduate of the mathematics faculty at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, has been sent to pretrial detention in a “treason” case. The move comes after Katz was subjected to two months of back-to-back arrests and torture at the hands of Russian security forces, the science-focused outlet T-invariant reports. According to the publication, Katz is accused of making donations to a charity that helps Ukrainian children.

The mathematician was first detained on Sept. 30 while on his way to the airport. Katz was planning to fly to France to begin a master's degree program when plainclothes officers took him away in an unmarked vehicle. According to T-invariant sources, during the first day of detention, security forces tortured Katz with electricity and used violence to make him sign blank sheets of paper. He was then handed over to the police.

On Oct. 1, Moscow's Cheryomushki District Court arrested Katz on charges of “swearing” and “disobeying police.” After being released, he was arrested again on Oct. 16 and charged with swearing by the Gagarinsky District Court. On Nov. 1, the Zyuzinsky District Court sentenced Katz to an additional 15 days in prison for “refusing to present his passport to the police.” On Nov. 18, the Moscow courts’ press service reported that the mathematician had been sent to a special detention facility for another 15 days for allegedly swearing near the Mars Pond in northern Moscow.

During this entire period, Katz was held at the Sakharovo detention facility, one of his acquaintances told T-invariant. “Everything stated in the court orders regarding his arrests is untrue. These were back-to-back arrests,” the source said.

On Dec. 2, the Meshchansky District Court in Moscow received a motion from the investigators to detain Katz on charges of “treason.” Mediazona drew attention to his case file, but it has since been removed from the court’s website.

The specific charges against Katz have not been disclosed. His lawyer and family members are not commenting on the case, according to T-invariant. The publication notes that the security forces’ actions closely mirror the case against physicist Artem Khoroshilov, who was sentenced in early December to 21 years in prison on “treason” charges for assisting Ukrainian charitable foundations.

Leonid Katz is a graduate of Moscow’s “Intellektual” school. After defending his thesis at the Higher School of Economics, he was accepted into several graduate programs in Russia and France, including MIPT, Skoltech, École Normale, and Paris-Saclay University.