The Supreme Court of North Ossetia–Alania has ruled to confiscate property belonging to former Head of the Vladikavkaz City Assembly Makhharbek Khadartsev worth ₽168.8 million ($2.2 million) in favour of the state. The decision was announced by the republic’s Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday.
The claim seeking confiscation of the assets was first filed in 2019, but court proceedings continued for several years and involved repeated reviews of earlier rulings.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office of the North-Western District of Vladikavkaz, between 2014 and 2019, when Khadartsev headed the municipal authority of the city, he acquired a real estate complex in the Moscow region whose value significantly exceeded his officially declared income. The investigation revealed that ownership of the properties was registered in 2018, but they were not reflected in officials’ income and expenditure declarations.
Court materials stated that the property includes two residential houses measuring 1,308.3 and 573 square metres, staff quarters, and a fireplace hall with a total area of 417.5 square metres, a bathhouse of 125 square metres, as well as a gazebo, sports ground, swimming pool, and other facilities. The Prosecutor’s Office assessed the value of the real estate at ₽143.7 million ($1.8 million). In addition, a further ₽25.1 million ($330,000) in apparently ill-gotten gains, was also transferred to state ownership.
Initially, the Sovetsky District Court of Vladikavkaz rejected the prosecutor’s claim. In February 2020, the court concluded that the disputed house had been built on land owned by Khadartsev in 2010–2012 and registered later, during its connection to the gas supply. In support of its findings, the court referred, among other things, to satellite images showing that the house appeared on the plot in 2011. Khadartsev stated that he had not been aware of the requirement to declare the property.
The district court’s decision was appealed. In subsequent years, the case was repeatedly examined by appellate and cassation courts. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the rulings were reviewed five times. The Supreme Court of North Ossetia annulled lower court acts and supported the position of the supervisory authority, while the Fifth Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction in Pyatigorsk returned the case for reconsideration. Ultimately, the republic’s Supreme Court upheld the prosecutor’s claim in full.
The ruling may be appealed in accordance with the law.
Makhharbek Khadartsev served as Head of Vladikavkaz from 2014 until mid-2019. After his term expired, he stepped down and did not stand in subsequent municipal elections. He had previously served as an MP of the State Duma of Russia.
Khadartsev is widely known as a freestyle wrestler. He is a two-time Olympic champion, a five-time world champion and a four-time European champion. During the period of mandatory income declarations, in 2018 he reported earnings of ₽1.63 million ($21,000) and ownership of more than 87,000 square metres of property.
In 2024, following a claim by the Prosecutor’s Office of North Ossetia, property belonging to the former city head’s wife, Viktoria Dzhatieva — a 9,500-square-metre land plot in the Vladikavkaz dendrological park — was also confiscated after the court found that the lawful origin of the land had not been confirmed.
