Alexei Safonov's sentence has been appealed to the Court of Cassation.

On July 20, 2021, Alexey Safonov, head of the Stavropol State Traffic Inspectorate, along with Alexander Arzhanukhin, former head of the department, Inspector Vitaly Melchikov, and four civilians, were arrested. Investigators accused them of accepting bribes totaling more than 19 million rubles from drivers for transporting cargo in violation of regulations. In addition to his prison term, Safonov was sentenced to a fine of 100 million rubles and stripped of his special rank of "police colonel."

Aleksei Safonov's defense has filed an appeal with the Fifth Cassation Court against the verdict and appellate ruling of the Supreme Court of Karachay-Cherkessia, which upheld the verdict, the convicted man's lawyer, Alexander Dudin, told the TASS news agency.

"The hearing of our appeal against the verdict and appellate ruling of the Supreme Court of Karachay-Cherkessia is scheduled for February 24," the agency quoted him as saying today.

The appeal was heard on August 25, 2025, by the Criminal Cases Panel of the Supreme Court of Karachay-Cherkessia.

"The court of appeal, having examined the materials of the criminal case and checked the arguments of the appeal submission of the state prosecutor and the appeal of the defense attorney of the convicted person, changed the verdict of the city court in terms of the additional punishment imposed; corrected a typo instead of 19,484,330 rubles indicated 21,849,500 rubles; excluded references to the full names of accomplices to the crime; references to "alienating evidence. The rest of the sentence was upheld. The sentence has entered into legal force," the joint press service of the republic's courts reported that day on its VKontakte page, without specifying the extent to which Safonov's additional punishment had been changed.

As a reminder, during the search, it was discovered that Safonov's mansion was decorated with gold trim inside, with inlaid furniture and crystal chandeliers throughout, and a gilded sink and toilet in the bathroom. In addition to the mansion with the "golden toilet," Safonov was found to own two dozen other properties..