The Parliament of breakaway South Ossetia sacked chief prosecutor, Taimuraz Khugaev on March 21, about three months after the breakaway region’s parliament, dominated by ex-South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity’s supporters, voted down his dismissal.

Dismissal of chief prosecutor Taimuraz Khugaev and chairman of supreme court Atsamaz Bichenov were among the provisions of a deal between opposition and the authorities signed in December with Russia’s mediation following annulment of November presidential run-off; the deal ended two-week long street protest rally led by Jioyeva.

Refusal to dismiss chief prosecutor and supreme court chair in December was one of the reasons behind former opposition presidential candidate Alla Jioyeva’s decision in January to withdraw from the deal, who later announced about intention to hold self-inauguration on February 10, condemning planned repeat election on March 25 as illegitimate; but on February 9 she was hospitalized after her office was, as her supporters said, “raided” by the law enforcement officers.

Since then Jioyeva remains actually isolated from politics and stays in hospital under the police guard – condition, which Jioyeva and her supporters call as “being under hospital arrest”.

Four candidates are running in the repeat presidential election in the breakaway region on Sunday. 

Local observers say that breakaway region’s ambassador to Moscow Dmitry Medoev is believed to be a frontrunner candidate; ex-chief of the breakaway region’s security service Leonid Tibilov is said to be Medoev’s major competitor.