Authorities say gunmen have shot dead a Russian federal judge in the North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria.
The regional prosecutor's office said district judge Dzhulber Bykov was ambushed in his car outside his home late on September 7.
Police say they are searching for the unidentified gunmen.
Bykov was a police officer before he became a judge.
Russia is battling an Islamic insurgency fueled by corruption and abuses in the North Caucasus.
Violence has been more sporadic and less severe in Kabardino-Balkaria that in the North Caucasus republics of Chechnya, Daghestan, and Ingushetia, but it has been increasing.
compiled from agency reports