Man Jailed for 14 Years Over South Russia Bombing

A Russian court sentenced a man to 14 years in a high-security prison for organizing a September 2010 terrorist attack that killed 19 people in the southern Russian city of Vladikavkaz, Russian Investigative Committee Spokesman Vladimir Markin said on Wednesday.

A suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives at an entrance to a central market in Vladikavkaz, capital of the North Caucasus republic of North Ossetia, on September 9, 2010. More than 230 people were injured in the blast.

Alikhan Ortskhanov, a member of a criminal gang that organized the attack, was also found guilty of carrying out other “grave and extremely grave crimes,” including attempts to kill police officers and illegal arms trafficking, Markin said.

The man was also ordered to pay 150,000 rubles in damage to families of those killed and injured in the blast.

In late April and mid-May, three other perpetrators of the attack were sentenced to 19, 24 and 16 years in jail.

Terrorist attacks targeting security forces and officials are common in the North Caucasus republics of Ingushetia, Dagestan and Chechnya, but neighboring North Ossetia has been spared the worst of the violence that has plagued its neighboring republics.

The Russian government has vowed to clamp down on militant groups operating in the North Caucasus while stepping up efforts to boost the local economies.

 

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