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Murdered Chechen No Longer Seeks Pardon Sep.21, 2004 MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian colonel convicted of murdering a Chechen woman has withdrawn his request for a pardon, sparing President Vladimir Putin the uncomfortable choice of offending either the volatile region or his military. Interfax news agency said on Tuesday that Yuri Budanov, the highest- ranking soldier convicted of abusing civilians in Russia's drive against separatists, abandoned the request he had previously submitted to authorities in the Volga River region, where he is serving a 10-year sentence. His decision frees Putin from the obligation of deciding whether to grant the pardon 14 months into his sentence. The prospect of Budanov's release prompted protests in Chechnya and denunciations by liberals. But the colonel, jailed last year for murdering Elza Kungayeva in 2000, has enjoyed considerable sympathy within the military and among some senior politicians. During his trial, Budanov said he had killed Kungayeva, 18, in a fit of rage during an interrogation he was conducting on suspicion that she was a rebel sniper. Her family said she was raped and murdered in a drunken rampage. Ekho Moskvy radio said Alu Alkhanov, a pro-Kremlin former policeman elected Chechen president last month as part of Moscow's efforts to have the province run by loyal officials, was pleased by Budanov's decision. State-owned television channels had earlier run lengthy reports on protests in the Chechen capital Grozny by students denouncing the prospect of Budanov being freed. The reports, quoting police, said 10,000 people massed in a central square, but witnesses said only 500-600 people appeared at a carefully choreographed gathering. The protesters signed an appeal to Putin to keep Budanov locked up. Placards likened the colonel to Shamil Basayev, the warlord who says he organized a hostage-taking in a school this month in which more than 320 people died. Rebels have fought Russia for more than a decade in a war which has killed thousands of soldiers and civilians. Basayev has also attacked targets outside mountainous Chechnya, and said he had organized two explosions on planes late last month that killed 90 people and a suicide bombing that killed nine Muscovites days later. Russian forces are accused of massive rights abuses in Chechnya, but few soldiers have faced trial. Budanov's conviction, days before a Kremlin-backed election in Chechnya, was seen as a concession to local residents angered by soldiers' apparent immunity to prosecution. Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe: reports on Chechnya The political situation in the Chechen Republic: measures to increase democratic stability in accordance with Council of Europe standards Doc. 10276 17 September 2004 Report Political Affairs Committee Rapporteur: Mr Andreas Gross, Switzerland, Social Group http://assembly.coe.int/Mainf.asp?link=http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/WorkingDocs/doc04/EDOC10276.htm The human rights situation in the Chechen Republic Doc. 10283 20 September 2004 Report Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights Rapporteur: Mr Rudolf Bindig, Germany, Socialist Group http://assembly.coe.int/Mainf.asp?link=http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/WorkingDocs/doc04/EDOC10283.htm The humanitarian situation of the Chechen displaced population Doc. 10282 20 September 2004 Report Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population Rapporteur: Mr Tadeusz Iwinski, Poland, Socialist Group http://assembly.coe.int/Mainf.asp?link=http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/WorkingDocs/doc04/EDOC10282.htm Tuesday September 21, 10:03 PM AAP Chechen demonstrators protest in Grozny In one of the largest demonstrations in Chechnya in recent years, more than 1,000 people gathered to protest the possible pardon of a Russian army colonel convicted of kidnapping and killing a young Chechen woman, Russian news reports said. Protesters in the Chechen capital, Grozny, appealed to President Vladimir Putin and the speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament not to allow Colonel Yuri Budanov to go free, according to Interfax-Military News Agency. On Monday, the governor of the Ulyanovsk region, Vladimir Shamanov, gave his backing to a regional commission's recommendation to pardon Budanov, sending the case forward for Putin's endorsement. Shamanov was Budanov's former commanding officer in Chechnya, and the Ulyanovsk region in the Volga area is where Budanov is serving a 10-year sentence for the murder of 18-year-old Heda Kungayeva. Budanov's trial has been closely watched in Russia as a test of how the military will handle reports of abuses in Chechnya, which human rights groups have alleged are widespread. He has admitted to the killing, claiming that he thought Kungayeva was a rebel sniper. The demonstrators in Chechnya, mostly students, also condemned the Beslan school siege and terrorism, according to the report. One held a sign equating Budanov to Chechen terrorist leader Shamil Basayev, who has claimed responsibility for the Beslan attack. "Budanov=Basayev - Both are murderers," the sign read. Interfax said the rally was the largest in Chechnya in the last five years, and several hundred police were guarding the demonstrators. Also on Tuesday, security officials in Chechnya claimed to have detained a woman with a suicide explosives belt during a search, Interfax reported. The Federal Security Service on Saturday found Natalia Khalkayeva with a satellite telephone and the homemade belt with one kilogram of explosives. Cases of women suicide bombers have risen in Russia. Two Chechen women are alleged to have been behind dual attacks that brought down two airplanes last month, and a female suicide bomber blew herself up outside a Moscow subway station on August 31, killing 10. http://au.news.yahoo.com/040921/2/qvo8.html |