The assassination this week of Russian Judge Eduard Chuvashov by suspected ultra-nationalists was a violently outrageous reminder of the vulnerability of judicial independence in the country, but it was not necessarily surprising.

Reports indicate that a lone gunman murdered the judge in a contract style hit in the stairwell of his apartment building on April 12th, not unlike the circumstances in which journalist Anna Politkovskaya was murdered in 2006.  Unlike the famous journalist who was a critic of the government, the judge dedicated himself to the courageous and dangerous work of trying extremism and hate crime cases.

Judge Chuvashov had been receiving death threats for several weeks in relation to his tough sentences meted out to various members of skinhead gangs and others charged with racially inspired extremism, including a website which displayed his photo and biographical details for would-be attackers.  According to Galina Kozhevnikova of SOVA, quoted by REF/RL, “His picture was posted, together with a small audio recording from a closed court hearing. The recording had an incorrect transcription and the judge was accused of Russophobia. This post generated a huge number of aggressive comments.“