Two young men beaten by riot police in South Ossetia for 'insolence'
Beating in South Ossetia
In South Ossetia, two 19-year-old men, Vadim Pliev and Eduard Kokoiev, were severely beaten by riot police after allegedly “talking back” to them.
The victims’ mothers have filed complaints with the prosecutor’s office. Natalia Dadiani and Fatima Kumaritova are calling for criminal charges to be brought against the officers.
Car without plates`
According to the women, on the evening of 12 October, their sons Vadim and Eduard went to a video game salon in Tskhinval. Almost immediately, OMON officers pulled up, checked their documents, and threatened to confiscate their car if they saw it again without licence plates. The young men promised to go straight home after finishing their game.
A few hours later, just a hundred metres from home, their car was stopped again.
“The OMON officers began raising their voices, and then one of them hit one of the boys. Two more vehicles with security officers arrived, and our sons were taken to the City Police Department, where they were first beaten in the yard and then inside the building,” the women said.
The two young men, beaten until they bled, said that around thirty officers took part in the assault, forcing them to apologise while hitting them.
“When we found out, we started calling everyone — the interior minister, others — begging them to get the boys out. But we weren’t allowed inside. They told us that until the boys ‘get what they deserve,’ no one would leave. We still don’t understand what that was supposed to mean,” Natalia Dadiani told local media.
After the beating, Vadim and Eduard were tested for drugs, and only once none were found were they taken to hospital.
Second scandal on the same theme
According to JAMnews sources, “the fathers of Vadim and Eduard are serving in the war zone in Ukraine,” a fact that has amplified public outrage over the incident.
The brutality of the OMON officers has also drawn condemnation from political circles in South Ossetia — especially as memories remain fresh of the Jabiyev case, in which a young man was allegedly beaten to death during police interrogation. Several officers were convicted in that high-profile case only recently.
The Patriots of Alania party also drew attention to the case in its official statement:
“We demand that the Interior Ministry leadership prevent such incidents in the future and put an end to any form of violence or unlawful actions against citizens.
We expect a thorough and impartial investigation into the injuries sustained by Kokoev and Pliev. All those involved must be held accountable, regardless of their rank or position,” the party said.
From impunity to lawlessness
A veteran of South Ossetia’s law enforcement system told JAMnews that the riot police had “clearly violated the law” in the incident.
“In this case, the OMON officers exceeded their authority. If a car had no license plates, dealing with that is the responsibility of the traffic police, not the riot police. What happened is the result of incompetence — mostly on the part of the OMON unit’s commander,” the former Interior Ministry officer explained.
According to him, the officers’ actions show that “they don’t know their duties and receive no proper briefing.”
“I believe even the current leadership of the OMON doesn’t know its responsibilities. This is confirmed by the recent case in which the same officers assaulted the first deputy interior minister — and no one was punished. Impunity breeds lawlessness. And because of that lawlessness, young men have now suffered. Under the current authorities, South Ossetia’s law enforcement system is in a state of complete disarray, run by incompetent, accidental people,” he said.
He is not the only one who believes that under President Alan Gagloev, both crime rates and police abuse have reached critical levels.
Residents of Tskhinval interviewed by JAMnews say the authorities are once again trying to sweep the scandal under the rug — reportedly pressuring the victims’ mothers to withdraw their complaints, while the prosecutor’s office has so far been reluctant to open a criminal case against the OMON officers.
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Beating in South Ossetia
