Head of customs attacked in South Ossetia — suspects linked to president’s brother
Armed criminals attacked the head of the Customs Committee, Alexander Chochiev, in his office in South Ossetia. According to eyewitnesses, the attackers are close friends of Alik Gagloev — the brother of President Alan Gagloev.
Aleksandr Chochiev was threatened with a Glock 19 pistol, but his colleagues managed to thwart the assassination attempt.
Witnesses say there were three attackers. Two of them — Khoh Gabaraev and Oleg Djabiev — had previously been accused of a number of other crimes but had avoided accountability thanks to their friendship with the president’s brother.
The attempted assassination is believed to have been caused by disagreements between former customs allies over cigarette smuggling and the redistribution of spheres of influence.
“Smuggling is going through customs. Very, very big money is at stake. Chochiev was a major obstacle. They tried to force him to resign but failed — so they decided to kill him,” people in Tskhinvali say.
At the same time, Aleksandr Chochiev had always been loyal to Alan Gagloev and supported his candidacy in the 2022 presidential election, which ultimately led to his appointment as head of the Customs Committee.
11 detained, 0 culprits
The South Ossetian Interior Ministry launched an “Intercept” plan. As a result, 11 suspects were detained, and according to Interior Minister Alan Guchmazov, numerous weapons, ammunition, explosives, fake car plates, and more were seized. However, none of the actual attackers were among those detained.
The General Prosecutor’s Office opened a criminal case but also admitted that the perpetrators of the attack had not been apprehended:
“The General Prosecutor’s Office of South Ossetia has opened a criminal case over the attack on the head of the Customs Committee, Aleksandr Chochiev, which took place yesterday in his office. The attackers escaped. They are suspected of using violence against a government official and of the illegal acquisition of firearms.”
One local law enforcement officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested that the attack on Chochiev may have been staged, with the real “victims” being the 11 people ultimately detained by the police.
“It seems to me that this incident with Chochiev was nothing more than a show. In South Ossetia, organised crime is divided into groups, and I think this performance was used to eliminate those who don’t belong to the president’s brother’s faction.
The authorities know who attacked Chochiev, but they are detaining completely random people, while the real attackers remain at large,” our source said.
Alik again
This is far from the first crime in which Alik Gagloev and his friends have been directly or indirectly implicated. Part of South Ossetian society, led by the opposition, believes that it is the president’s brother who is to blame for the high crime rate in South Ossetia.
The opposition party “United Ossetia” has once again demanded that the president deal with criminal elements and has also called on fellow MPs to convene an emergency parliamentary session.
“This outrageous incident is nothing less than complete lawlessness and legal anarchy. Along with other high-profile cases, what happened is a direct result of the criminal negligence of the current leadership of the Republic,” the party stated.
They pointed out that criminal disputes, street shootouts, threats, murders, racketeering, kidnappings, and so on have become commonplace in South Ossetia, that “criminal groups feel their impunity,” and that the crime situation has completely spun out of the control of law enforcement agencies.
Mini-football amid crackdown
The public is sceptical about the chances of holding the perpetrators accountable, while President Alan Gagloev has so far tried to ignore the situation. While the intercept operation was under way, Alan Gagloev attended the final of a mini-football tournament in the village of Dmenis — further angering the public.
“Did Alan Gagloev not think that people would see this as mockery and nothing else? Gagloev has made no statement, as if nothing is happening in the republic and the public isn’t horrified by what’s going on.
The cynicism of the current regime’s representatives is staggering — they haven’t even tried to calm the people by saying that everything is under control and that the guilty will be punished. But of course not,” wrote the authors of one South Ossetian Telegram channel.
Toponyms, terminology, views and opinions expressed by the author are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of JAMnews or any employees thereof. JAMnews reserves the right to delete comments it considers to be offensive, inflammatory, threatening or otherwise unacceptable.
