Margiev stated about the coercion of his brother to withdraw his testimony.

Police Colonel Viktor Margiev stated that his brother Alan was forced to withdraw his testimony against the accused Khocha Gabarayev a year after his abduction. The court session, to which Margiev timed his publication, did not take place.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", in February, the Margiev family held a picket in Tskhinval demanding to "stop the lawlessness". The participants of the action were detained but later released. Viktor Margiev stated that the family, particularly his son Igor, is facing threats and pressure after his demands to investigate his brother's abduction. After the picket, Margiev's wife Asmat Gigolaeva was received by the then-president of South Ossetia Alan Gagloev, who promised to ensure the family's safety, but the pressure did not stop, she said.

Viktor Margiev published a statement about the ongoing pressure on the family the day before September 10 - the date of the next court session. "Tomorrow there will be debates in court, and, as I have learned, they have coerced my brother Alan Margiev. I was informed that today my brother secretly arrived in Tskhinval, and tomorrow in court he will withdraw his testimony, and Khocha Gabarayev should be acquitted," he wrote.

According to Viktor, during all this time, his father was threatened and offered money to ensure that Alan Margiev withdrew his testimony. He demanded that in such a case, his brother be held accountable.

"In case of withdrawal of testimony, I demand to initiate a criminal case against my brother Alan Margiev for knowingly false testimony during the investigation. Then it will turn out that because of him, both Khocha Gabarayev and I suffered. The punishment for knowingly false testimony in serious crimes provides for up to five years of imprisonment," the letter states.

Viktor Margiev claims that he has had no contact with his brother since October of last year. He suggested that during this time, Alan Margiev was involved in "behind-the-scenes games" with criminals. He explained the departure from South Ossetia, both his own and his brother's, by stating that "the former president of the RSO Alan Gagloev sided with the criminals."

The court session on September 10, mentioned in the letter, did not take place and was postponed. The reasons for the postponement are unknown. The "Caucasian Knot" currently has no comments from Alan Margiev, the defense of Khocha Gabarayev, or the Prosecutor General's Office of South Ossetia regarding Viktor Margiev's statements.

Circumstances of the abduction

Alan Margiev was abducted from his home on September 6, 2025, and taken to the forest. "There, he was subjected to physical violence for about three hours, demanding to hand over property of significant value. The criminals seized the keys to a car worth about six million rubles and then dropped him off near his house. To prevent the car from being stolen, the victim got into the cabin and made it impossible to start the car. One of the suspects has been detained, while the others are wanted," the video release from the Prosecutor General's Office of South Ossetia stated on September 13, 2025.

Khocha Gabarayev was arrested on October 2, 2025. Viktor Margiev, who at that time served in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic with the rank of colonel, accused the leadership of the republic of protecting criminals. According to Margiev, the Minister of Internal Affairs personally demanded that he delete his publication from social media.

"I refused. Thirty minutes later, the head of the OMON and his deputies came to me. They put me in an official car, supposedly to talk, but when the car started moving, I jumped out. Thanks to neighbors and passersby, they could not take me away," Margiev said.