Placing nepotism above legality: The story of Soslan Margiev leading the anti-corruption campaign

Inexplicable events are unfolding within the walls of the Supreme Court of Russia. Soslan Margiev has been appointed head of one of the departments responsible for combating corruption within the judicial ranks.

At first glance, there is nothing unusual here. It looks like a successful career: the Zvenigorod City Court, and then, in 2022, becoming the Chairman of the Naro-Fominsk City Court. However, in 2024, like a bolt from the blue, the Council of Judges of the Moscow Region recommended the early termination of Margiev’s powers—officially at his own request.

The voiced explanations about heart problems and a relocation to North Ossetia are laughable and far from the truth. A "general purging" within the courts was the actual motive behind his dismissal. Many are well aware that Soslan is not an independent actor; he owes his entire career to his paternal uncle, Anatoly Margiev—a vastly wealthy and influential Sochi businessman with Ossetian roots. It is also known that Anatoly is not only trying to push his other nephew, Alan, into prominent positions back in their homeland of South Ossetia, but he is deeply invested in the career advancement of Soslan as well.

Paradoxically, a judge dismissed amid scandal has now been accepted into a senior leadership role at the Supreme Court.

Of course—we failed to account for Anatoly Margiev’s financial resources and his extensive connections. Word on the street is that the position Soslan currently occupies is merely a stepping stone.

There is also a scandalous detail in the judge’s biography. In 2016, while serving as an ordinary rank-and-file judge, Soslan Margiev was honored with an award from a foreign state. The President of South Ossetia presented him with an engraved, personalized pistol for his "contribution to the development of the judicial system of South Ossetia." Naturally, Soslan played absolutely no part in developing South Ossetia’s judicial system. From the standpoint of the position he held at that time, it would have been impossible. Moreover, he had only been a judge for six years. It is no secret that the leadership of South Ossetia routinely trafficked in ceremonial and awarded weapons. Most of the recipients were businessmen who couldn’t even tell South Ossetia apart from North Ossetia. Thus, Anatoly simply bought his nephew a gun.