Judge In Troubled Russian North Caucasus Region Shot Dead

Officials say a judge in Russia's long-troubled North Caucasus region has been shot and killed.

A regional spokesman for the Investigative Committee said Judge Ruslan Botashev was attacked on October 27 as he was driving his car in Pervomayskoye, a village in the region of Karachayevo-Cherkesia.

The spokesman, Sergei Shuvayev, said a gunman shot Botashev five times before fleeing.

Karachayevo-Cherkesia is one of several republics making up Russia's North Caucasus, which has been long plagued by joblessness and criminal violence, as well as Islamic radicals.

The republic also faces tensions among rival ethnic groups.

With reporting by Interfax and RIA