Investigation of high-profile murder completed in South Ossetia. How does it benefit the President?
investigation of Inal Dzhabiev case
In South Ossetia, a new Attorney General has been appointed, and the first thing he did after taking office was announce the completion of an investigation into the high-profile murder case of Inal Dzhabiev. We explain how this aligns with the personal interests of President Alan Gagloyev.
President’s henchman
Grigory Sobaev, who is loyal to President Alan Gagloev, has become the new Prosecutor General of South Ossetia. Actually, Gagloev lobbied for his appointment to this post.
The position of Prosecutor General remained vacant for more than a year. At first, Gagloev tried to seat an elderly retired employee of the North Ossetian prosecutor’s office, Soslan Beteev, in this chair, and for this he even wanted to change the law on the Prosecutor General’s Office, raising the age limit. However, Parliament did not approve this trick. And then the choice of president fell to Grigory Sobaev.
This time it worked – on June 27, 2023, the deputies unanimously supported Sobaev’s candidacy, and on July 5, the president issued a decree on his appointment.
“He is smart, sensible, tenacious. He has it,” colleagues characterize Grigory Sobaev.
It is known that Sobaev served in the prosecutor’s office in different years, was a judge in the Tskhinvali city court, head of the legal service in the Ministry of Defense and, finally, the prosecutor of Tskhinvali. In this status, he acted as a prosecutor in the Dzhabiev case.
Almost immediately after taking office as Prosecutor General, Sobaev announced that the Prosecutor General’s Office had completed an investigation into the death of Inal Dzhabiev. According to him, now the accused are getting acquainted with the materials of the case, after which it will be sent to court.
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The murder of Inal Dzhabiev is a high-profile case and a weapon in the election campaign
Dzhabiev was one of the suspects in the assassination attempt on the Minister of Internal Affairs in 2020.
On August 28, 2020, Dzhabiev died after a brutal interrogation by the police. It is assumed that he was literally tortured to death.
The death of Dzhabiev caused a wide public outcry.
The current president of South Ossetia, Alan Gagloev, was at that time the leader of the opposition Nykhas party. He severely criticized the then President Anatoly Bibilov and held him personally responsible for the death of Dzhabiev.
Using the Dzhabiev case in the political struggle, the opposition managed to seriously undermine Bibilov’s rating. In the 2022 presidential election, Bibilov lost to Gagloev and was forced to cede the presidency.
In July 2022, the Supreme Court of South Ossetia acquitted all the participants in the case of the attempt on the life of the Minister of Internal Affairs and recognized Inal Dzhabiev and the second suspect, Nikolai Tskhovrebov, as the right to rehabilitation.
The rating of Alan Gagloev, which has greatly decreased during the year of his tenure, depends on a fair investigation and punishment of the true perpetrators of the murder of Dzhabiev. To bring Dzhabiev’s case to an end was one of Gagloev’s election promises, and now he is obliged to keep this promise in order to save his image. And in this regard, Alan Gagloev places special hopes on Sobaev, according to South Ossetian experts.
Ex-prosecutor in the dock
The defendants in the Dzhabiev case are eight officers of the Criminal Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of South Ossetia. They are charged with intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm, resulting in death by negligence, and abuse of power with the use of violence, which entailed grave consequences.
In addition, on charges of negligence and abuse of power, the head of the Criminal Investigation Department Dzhemal Bibilov, the former Prosecutor General Uruzmag Dzhagaev (Sobaev’s predecessor) and the former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Igor Naniev (the one in the assassination attempt on which Dzhabiev was suspected) will be in the dock.
The results of the examination on the causes of Dzhabiev’s death are not being disclosed by the investigation.
The defendants themselves plead not guilty.
“When the suspects once again demanded an extension of the deadline for familiarization with the materials of the criminal case, Sobaev lost his temper and called them murderers. In response, one of the defendants threw a sneaker at him. We all thought that a case would be opened against this defendant, but we let everyone down on the brakes,” one of Sobaev’s colleagues said.
Grigory Sobaev vows that all those responsible will receive due punishment:
As everyone knows, the former prosecutor general and the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have been brought to criminal responsibility. The investigation is ongoing. I can say with confidence that all those involved in the commission of these malfeasance will be punished. They will not be able to avoid criminal liability.
In September last year, while still the prosecutor of Tskhinvali, Sobaev insisted on returning the Dzhabiev case back to the Prosecutor General’s Office:
“We returned the criminal case to the investigating authority in order to correct the violations committed, bring it into line with the law and determine the role of each of the defendants in this criminal case: who did what and for what specifically should be held accountable before the law,” Sobaev said at the time.
JAMnews sources in the Prosecutor General’s Office confirmed the completion of the investigation:
“Yes, the job is done. The accused get acquainted with the materials of the investigation. The injured party is also given the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the case. As soon as the defendants finish their acquaintance, the case will be submitted to the court.”
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