Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] Nikolai Tskhovrebov and Gersan Kulumbegov, recognized as victims in the case of the death of Inal Dzhabiev, refused to appear at the court hearing because they live in North Ossetia and have repeatedly testified in the case before. The court agreed to begin questioning witnesses at the next hearing.
As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote, on October 27, 2023, the South Ossetian prosecutor's office reported that the accused had been familiarized with the materials of the case regarding the death of Inal Dzhabiev, and it had been submitted to court. At the first court hearings, indictments were read to Dzhumber Bibilov, Marat Khugaev, Andrey Dzhioev, Atsamaz Naniev, Irbeg Slanov, Sergei Kozonov, Zaur Gogichaev and Alan Bagaev. The defense does not admit a single article of the accusation, said the lawyers of the criminal police officers. At the hearing on January 15, the defense insisted on the need for the presence in court of Nikolai Tskhovrebov and Gersan Kulumbegov, recognized as victims in the case of the death of Inal Dzhabiev, and the court decided to forcibly bring them to the next hearing.
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On August 17, 2020, in Tskhinvali, an official car in which the Minister of Internal Affairs Igor Naniev was was fired upon; no one was injured. Together with Inal Dzhabiev, Nikolai Tskhovrebov and Gersan Kulumbegov were detained in the case of the assassination attempt on the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of South Ossetia Igor Naniev. After Dzhabiev’s death, they were released on their own recognizance. At the court hearing in the case of Dzhabiev’s death, Kulumbegov stated that after his arrest, he was brought from the temporary detention facility in a mask to the criminal police and beaten. Nikolai Tskhovrebov also reported that physical violence was used against him within the walls of law enforcement agencies.
On July 15, 2022, the Supreme Court of South Ossetia dismissed the criminal case against Inal Dzhabiev and Nikolai Tskhovrebov regarding the assassination attempt on the minister, as no evidence was received of their involvement in the assassination attempt. The Tskhinvali City Court decided to pay two million rubles in compensation for moral damage to the relatives of Inal Dzhabiev.
The hearing on the death of Inal Dzhabiev today was attended by the widow of Inal Dzhabiev - Oksana Sotieva, the mother of the victim Nikolai Tskhovrebov, who by proxy represents the interests of her son, relatives of the defendants, journalists and representatives of parliament. The hall was full, the Caucasian Knot correspondent reported.
The lawyer of the victim Nikolai Tskhovrebov and Gersan Kulumbegov, Fatima Gatagonova, explained to the court that both of her clients have been living permanently in North Ossetia since last year, and provided the court with a written refusal of the victim Tskhovrebov to appear in court. “My client confirms in writing that he has repeatedly given testimony, adheres to it, and has nothing new to add to previously given testimony,” the lawyer explained. “In addition, according to the victims’ lawyer, Tskhovrebov signed a contract and is expecting to leave for Donbass any day now, so he has no opportunity to come to court.”
All defendants in the case of Inal Dzhabiev were brought to the trial. Five accused employees are in custody, three appear in court on their own, as by court decision they are under recognizance not to leave. In court, the interests of the accused are represented by four lawyers - two lawyers from the South Ossetian Bar Chamber (Ostaeva and Kochieva) and two lawyers invited from Russia. All four defense attorneys for the defendants spoke out against the court taking into account the victims’ written refusal to fail to appear in court. The state prosecutor, in turn, explained that according to the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, if a citizen is a citizen of a foreign state, he has the right not to appear in court at the invitation of the court and not to respond to the prospects of forcible delivery to court. Since 90% of the residents of South Ossetia have dual citizenship, this clause was put forward by the state prosecution as a legal justification for refusing to appear at the trial.
Ostaeva explained that this justification applies if a person is a citizen of a foreign state in the first place. The judge explained that there is no order of priority for a person to have citizenship.
In addition, the defense of the accused stated that the appearance of the victims in court is necessary, since there are contradictions in the previously given testimony. “There is testimony at the preliminary investigation stage, there is testimony from victims during the confrontation, and there are contradictions in them. The victims responded in writing that they adhere to the previously given testimony. Which ones exactly?” - the lawyer of the defendants addressed the court.
The state prosecutor explained that several transcripts of testimony are related to the return of the case to the prosecutor's office when the defendant's classification of the crime was changed.
The defendant's defense asked to change the rules of the hearings - the order of questioning in court, judge Oksana Kokoeva, despite the disagreement of the prosecution, granted this request. She said that the next meeting on January 22 will begin with the questioning of witnesses; the secretariat should invite 10 witnesses to each meeting, after which the victims will be questioned and only then the defendants.
The process is complex, and we must continue to observe how everything will progress step by step, the widow of Inal Dzhabiev Oksana Sotieva told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
The case of Inal Dzhabiev was reminiscent of the case of Vladimir Tskaev, who died after interrogation at the Vladikavkaz police department on the night of November 1, 2015. The investigation into his death lasted more than two years. The "Caucasian Knot" has prepared a video about how Zemfira Tskaeva is fighting for fair punishment for those who are guilty of the death of her husband and deprived her children of their father.
Inal Dzhabiev died on August 28, 2020 after interrogation in the case of an attempt on the life of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of South Ossetia. His death caused mass protests and a political crisis in South Ossetia: 16 members of parliament from the fall of 2020 to February 2021 boycotted parliamentary meetings, preventing a quorum from being reached. As a result, the work of parliament was completely paralyzed. At the same time, Dzhabiev’s relatives, dissatisfied with the progress of the investigation, organized a 24-hour protest, which took place in a square in Tskhinvali from December 4, 2020 to February 26, 2021. The opposition and protesters sought the dismissal of Prosecutor General Uruzmag Dzhagaev, but stopped the protests without achieving their goals.
In October 2022, the Tskhinvali City Court returned the criminal case of death after interrogation of Inal Dzhabiev for additional investigation to the Prosecutor General's Office of South Ossetia. At that time, seven security officials were charged in the case. The Prosecutor General's Office of South Ossetia announced new defendants in the case in March. Among them are former Prosecutor General Uruzmag Dzhagaev, he was arrested in absentia and put on the wanted list, former head of the Tskhinvali Internal Affairs Directorate Uruzmag Margiev, who is under recognizance not to leave. The former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of South Ossetia, Igor Naniev, has been put on the wanted list. All of them are accused of abuse of power.
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