diff --git a/src/barabadb/core/server.nim b/src/barabadb/core/server.nim
index d7dc24b..3613e76 100644
--- a/src/barabadb/core/server.nim
+++ b/src/barabadb/core/server.nim
@@ -20,11 +20,13 @@ import ../query/lexer
 import ../query/parser
 import ../query/ast
 import ../query/executor
+import ../query/exec/params
 import ../storage/lsm
 import ../storage/gate
 import ../core/mvcc
 import ../core/disttxn
 import ../core/replication
+import ../core/raft
 import ../core/sharding
 import ../core/gossip
 import ../protocol/ratelimit
@@ -41,6 +43,7 @@ type
     txnManager*: TxnManager
     distTxnManager*: DistTxnManager
     replicationManager*: ReplicationManager
+    raftNode*: RaftNode
     shardRouter*: ShardRouter
     clusterMembership*: ClusterMembership
     gossipProtocol*: GossipProtocol
@@ -204,7 +207,8 @@ proc valueToWire(val: string, colType: string): WireValue =
   return WireValue(kind: fkString, strVal: val)
 
 proc executeQuery(db: LSMTree, ctx: ExecutionContext, query: string, params: seq[WireValue] = @[],
-                   replication: ReplicationManager = nil): (bool, QueryResult, string) =
+                   replication: ReplicationManager = nil,
+                   raftNode: RaftNode = nil): (bool, QueryResult, string) =
   ## All storage access is under the global StorageGate so HTTP worker threads
   ## and the TCP event loop never touch ORC-managed LSM/executor state concurrently.
   withStorageGate:
@@ -215,6 +219,12 @@ proc executeQuery(db: LSMTree, ctx: ExecutionContext, query: string, params: seq
       if astNode.stmts.len == 0:
         return (true, QueryResult(), "")
 
+      # C3b: writes go through the Raft log — only the leader may accept them.
+      if raftNode != nil and isWrite(astNode.stmts[0]):
+        if raftNode.state != rsLeader:
+          let who = if raftNode.leaderId.len > 0: raftNode.leaderId else: "none elected"
+          return (false, QueryResult(), "not leader; leader is '" & who & "'")
+
       let res = executor.executeQuery(ctx, astNode, params)
       if res.success:
         # Ship written key-value pairs to replicas
@@ -564,7 +574,7 @@ proc handleClient(server: Server, client: AsyncSocket, clientId: int) {.async.}
 
         if shardCheck:
           let startTicks = getMonoTime().ticks()
-          let (success, result, errorMsg) = executeQuery(connCtx.db, connCtx, queryStr, replication=server.replicationManager)
+          let (success, result, errorMsg) = executeQuery(connCtx.db, connCtx, queryStr, replication=server.replicationManager, raftNode=server.raftNode)
           let durationMs = int((getMonoTime().ticks() - startTicks) div 1_000_000)
 
           if durationMs >= slowThreshold:
@@ -584,7 +594,7 @@ proc handleClient(server: Server, client: AsyncSocket, clientId: int) {.async.}
         info("[" & $clientId & "] QueryParams: " & queryStr & " (" & $params.len & " params)")
 
         let startTicks = getMonoTime().ticks()
-        let (success, result, errorMsg) = executeQuery(connCtx.db, connCtx, queryStr, params, replication=server.replicationManager)
+        let (success, result, errorMsg) = executeQuery(connCtx.db, connCtx, queryStr, params, replication=server.replicationManager, raftNode=server.raftNode)
         let durationMs = int((getMonoTime().ticks() - startTicks) div 1_000_000)
 
         if durationMs >= slowThreshold:
diff --git a/src/barabadb/query/exec/params.nim b/src/barabadb/query/exec/params.nim
index cd195b7..7dc64b5 100644
--- a/src/barabadb/query/exec/params.nim
+++ b/src/barabadb/query/exec/params.nim
@@ -178,3 +178,12 @@ proc isDDL*(stmt: Node): bool =
     result = true
   else:
     result = false
+
+proc isWrite*(stmt: Node): bool =
+  ## True for statements that mutate stored data. `nkCommitTxn` is included
+  ## because COMMIT emits the transaction's buffered kvPairs.
+  case stmt.kind
+  of nkInsert, nkUpdate, nkDelete, nkMerge, nkCommitTxn:
+    result = true
+  else:
+    result = false
diff --git a/src/baradadb.nim b/src/baradadb.nim
index b3348a0..d198621 100644
--- a/src/baradadb.nim
+++ b/src/baradadb.nim
@@ -341,6 +341,7 @@ proc main() =
     var raftNode = newRaftNode(config.raftNodeId, raftPeers, config.raftPort,
                                dataDir = raftDataDir)
     raftNode.peerAddrs = config.raftPeerAddrs
+    tcpServer.raftNode = raftNode  # C3b: executeQuery rejects writes on followers
     # Wire state machine to apply committed entries to the default database
     let defaultDbInfo = getDatabaseInfo(registry, "default")
     raftNode.applyCommand = proc(cmd: string, data: seq[byte]) {.gcsafe.} =
diff --git a/tests/bugfix_test.nim b/tests/bugfix_test.nim
index 1f2d46d..12ab37d 100644
--- a/tests/bugfix_test.nim
+++ b/tests/bugfix_test.nim
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import std/strutils
 import std/os
 import std/tables
 import ../src/barabadb/query/[parser, executor, lexer, ast]
+import ../src/barabadb/query/exec/params
 import ../src/barabadb/core/types
 import ../src/barabadb/core/config
 import ../src/barabadb/storage/lsm
@@ -383,3 +384,15 @@ suite "Raft peer address parsing":
       delEnv("BARADB_RAFT_PEERS")
       check msg.len > 0
       check bad in msg
+
+suite "Raft write classification":
+
+  test "isWrite classifies DML and COMMIT":
+    check isWrite(parse("INSERT INTO t (id) VALUES (1)").stmts[0])
+    check isWrite(parse("UPDATE t SET id = 2").stmts[0])
+    check isWrite(parse("DELETE FROM t WHERE id = 1").stmts[0])
+    check isWrite(parse("COMMIT").stmts[0])
+    check not isWrite(parse("SELECT * FROM t").stmts[0])
+    check not isWrite(parse("CREATE TABLE t (id INT)").stmts[0])
+    check not isWrite(parse("BEGIN").stmts[0])
+    check not isWrite(parse("ROLLBACK").stmts[0])