In the present press release the the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) deplores the killing in Ingushetia of Judge Aza Gazgireeva, Deputy Chief Justice of the regional Supreme Court. The ICJ stresses that international human rights law, including the European Convention on Human Rights, requires the authorities to take measures to protect judges and lawyers who may be at risk of criminal violence. Under the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, states have duty to ensure that lawyers can perform their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference and must provide adequate protection to lawyers whose security is threatened.