ROSTOV-ON-DON, October 29 (RIA Novosti) – A member of a criminal group that organized the murders of high-ranking North Caucasus officials was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Tuesday, a court spokesman said.
Defendant Alan Dzhadzhiyev was found guilty of taking part in the criminal activities of a group whose members killed at least two high-ranking officials in the volatile North Caucasus republic of North Ossetia in 2008.
The leader of the gang, Oleg Gagiyev, was sentenced to life in prison back in March for organizing a series of high-profile killings. The crimes he was found guilty of included the November 2008 murder of Vitaly Karayev, the mayor of North Ossetia’s capital Vladikavkaz, and the killing of North Ossetia’s deputy prime minister Kazbek Pagiyev – also a former Vladikavkaz mayor – who was shot dead the following month.
The North Caucasus district military court in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don ruled that Dzhadzhiyev had not been a permanent member of Gagiyev’s gang, but had taken part in some of its criminal activities.
The court found that investigators had proved his involvement in at least two killings, as well as in inflicting grievous bodily harm, arms trafficking, fraud and the use of forged documents.
“The court sentenced Dzhadzhiyev to 10 years in a maximum security penal colony, starting from June 15, 2012,” the court spokesman said.
