The organizer of a series of murders of high-ranking North Ossetian officials, Oleg Gagiev, was sentenced to life imprisonment. His victims included the mayor of Vladikavkaz, Vitaly Karaev, and the former Deputy Prime Minister of North Ossetia, Kazbek Pagiev. Gagiev was also fined one million rubles and demanded to pay half a million rubles in compensation to the victims, RIA Novosti reports .

The investigation believes that in 2007 Gagiev organized a gang of 11 people that carried out contract killings. From October to December 2008, its members killed Pagiev, Karaev and the head of the republican criminal investigation department Vitaly Cheldiev and his son. In total, the group committed nine murders, Interfax reports , as well as several assassination attempts.

Gagiev, nicknamed Bote, which means “baby” in Ossetian, was detained in April 2010 in a Moscow restaurant. Several other gang members were also arrested. The rest have been put on the international wanted list.

Four of Gagiev’s accomplices made a deal with the investigation and were previously sentenced to long prison terms. The gang leader did not admit his guilt. He was charged with murder, banditry, intentional infliction of bodily harm, illegal weapons trafficking, and encroachment on the lives of law enforcement officers.

The trial in Gagiev's case took place in the North Caucasus District Military Court, where he was moved from Vladikavkaz for security reasons. During the judicial investigation, it turned out that those who ordered the murders and their motives had not been established. Gagiev's lawyers intend to appeal the verdict.

Organizer of murders of North Ossetian officials given life sentence