Mikhail Savostin

On the night of 5-6 April, Savostin was travelling with a friend from Mineralnye Vody in a car and was stopped by law enforcement.

According to the investigation's version of events, set out in the ruling on the initiation of criminal proceedings, Savostin, after the car was stopped by traffic police officers, "opened the driver's door and dropped a bag under the rear left wheel". Three minutes later, officers of the drug control department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs began to examine the site and, the document says, found a bag containing 11.69 grams of marijuana in the left pocket of Savostin's jeans (presumably, a personal inspection or search was also conducted, which the ruling does not say). Another hour later, during the inspection of the scene, a bag with 105.22 grams of marijuana was found.

The document also notes that Savostin's car was stopped as part of an operational surveillance conducted by "officers of the Central Investigation Department of the Main Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for Stavropol Krai together with officers of the ONC [drug control department] of the Department of Internal Affairs of Russia for Mineralovodsk City District".

According to Savostin's defence, when he and a friend were driving in a car, their road was blocked by a minibus. Masked men ran out of the van; they immediately threw Savostin's friend face down on the asphalt and forced Savostin into the minibus. Inside the vehicle, the law enforcement officers tied his hands with wire behind his back and "carried out some manipulations in the area of his pockets". Savostin was then taken out of the vehicle and he saw a large bag of marijuana lying under the wheel of the minibus. The police then removed the bag of drugs from the back pocket of his trousers.

Savostin was detained. The case was initiated by the investigative officer K. V. Leonov. On 7 April Savostin was arrested for two months. On 1 June the arrest was extended until 6 July, and on 29 June the arrest was extended for another month.

On 11 June, Kavkazsky Uzel reported that an expert examination found no traces of drugs in Savostin's blood, and another expert examination found that he had been injured during the arrest.

From late June to early July 2018, Savostin went on a dry hunger strike for several days.

On 26 June 2019, Savostin was sentenced to three and a half years of suspended imprisonment.