26 Sep 2013 09:03

Murder of Dagestan judge may be related to his work - investigators

MAKHACHKALA. Sept 26 (Interfax) - Local investigators believe that Mukhtar Shapiyev, a judge of the Supreme Court in the Republic of Dagestan in Russia's North Caucasus, might have been killed in retaliation for his work.

"The preliminary information available indicates that there were at least two attackers. They used presumably Stechkin pistols," investigators' spokesman told Interfax.

More than 40 nine-millimeter bullet shells were confiscated from the scene.

Shapiyev and his son died in the hospital after being seriously injured in an attack staged in Dagestan's capital Makhachkala on September 25.

A criminal inquiry was opened on the counts of an assault on the life of a judge and illegal possession of weapons.