Alexander Dzasokhov


Aleksandr Sergeyevich Dzasokhov is the former head of the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania.

Biography

He was born 3 April 1934, in Vladikavkaz, graduated in 1957 from the North Caucasus Mining Metallurgical Institute and holds a doctorate in politics. From 1992 - 1993, he was a people's deputy of Russian Federation and from 1993–1995, deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. On 18 January 1998, elected president of North Ossetia with 76% of the vote and was re-elected on 27 January 2002, with 56,02% of the vote.
He voluntarily quit his post on 31 May 2005 and was succeeded by Taimuraz Mamsurov. He is currently a Representative of the Republic of North Ossetia in the Federation Republic.
On 13 January 2006, he testified at the trial of Nur-Pashi Kulayev, the lone surviving terrorist from School No. 1 in Beslan. Two buses full of victims arrived in Vladikavkaz on that day to see his long-awaited court appearance. Although many victims consider Dzasokhov among of those guilty for the Beslan school hostage crisis from 1 - 3 September 2004, the situational investigation carried out by the Prosecutor General's Office determined that no officials were to blame for the deaths, so he could testify without fear of legal ramifications for himself.
Dzasokhov is a Doctor of Political Science, Ph.D., author of several books and numerous articles. He speaks several foreign languages. Member of Russian Academy of Arts. In 1973 he defended his thesis "The processes of formation of the newly independent states".

Honours and awards