MAKHACHKALA, September 25 (RIA Novosti) – A Supreme Court judge in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Dagestan and his son were fatally shot Wednesday, Russia’s Investigative Committee said.
Judge Mukhtar Shapiev and his son were attacked and shot around 8:30 pm local time in the republic’s capital, Makhachkala, the committee said, adding that several 9-mm shells were found at the site of the attack. Both victims succumbed to their injuries in a hospital.
A criminal case has been opened on charges of murder and illegal possession of a firearm, punishable by up to life in prison.
Attacks on security forces, police and civilians occur regularly in the North Caucasus, generated by ethnic, religious and political rivalries, as well as poverty and corruption. The violence is also fed by an Islamist insurgency, which has been especially resilient in Dagestan and fueled a series of bloody post-Soviet separatist wars in the neighboring republic of Chechnya.
