Murderer of Kokoity’s bodyguards sentenced to 2.5 years

The Supreme Court of North Ossetia has sentenced Albert Tsgoyev to 2.5 years of prison for murdering bodyguards of former South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity, RIA Novosti reports.

35-year old Tsgoyev murdered Alim Kabulov, 30-year old brother of President Kokoity and Deputy Chief of the State Security Guards, and his fellow security officer Oleg Ikayev. The murder happened at the Retro Club of Vladikavkaz on May 20, 2011.

The prosecutor demanded 3 years and 3 months of penal colony settlement of Tsgoyev, the maximum possible punishment, because the murderer was judged to have been temporarily insane when committing the crime.

Tsgoyev’s lawyer said that the prosecutor’s terms could only be sentenced if there were no extenuations. Tsgoyev has extenuating circumstances: he had no previous crime records, has two children aged 8 and 2 and has positive a certificate of good conduct. Moreover, the murderer expressed regret over the crime and condolences to relatives of his victims.

Relatives of the bodyguards did not attend the process, because Oleg Iskayev’s sister was banned from the court for violating order during the process and swearing. They were waiting at the courthouse during the process and plan to appeal the sentence.