His lawyer, Sergey Karpov, asked for a dismissal of the case, saying that no proof of any crime had been presented. The request for dismissal was rejected. Tolmachev's trial began in August 2013. On October 29, 2014, the Kushchevskaya district court found Tolmachev guilty and sentenced him to nine years in a penal colony. Tolmachev appealed his verdict to the Krasnodar Regional Court. On June 21, 2013, Tolmachev was given an award by the Artyom Borovik charitable foundation in recognition of his articles about judicial corruption in the Rostov region.