 Less than two months after Gaskarov's arrest, his lawyers asked the Moscow City Court to release him from detention pending trial.Russian Duma deputy Dmitriy Gudkov, human-rights advocate Lev Ponomarev, and "Novaya Gazeta" editor-in-chief Dmitriy Muratov vouched for Gaskarov, assuring the court that he would not flee the country.This request was rejected on the supposed grounds that Gaskarov “did not reside at the address where he was registered, used secrecy to conceal his criminal activity, and possesses the financial capability to leave the Russian Federation.”

In late March 2014, Gaskarov's case, along with those against his fellow activists Ilya Guschin, Elena Kokhtareva, and Alexander Margolin, was sent to the Zamoskvoretskiy District Court in Moscow.