http://www.gazeta.ru/2003/07/25/Budanovfound.shtml

Budanov found sane, sentenced to 10 years

Russia and the whole world could witness an end to the most notorious public examination for military crimes in Chechnya as Colonel Yuri Budanov, was found guilty of abduction, murder and abuse of office and sentenced to 10 years in a high-security prison on Friday by the military court in Rostov-on-Don. The court has also stripped him of his military rank and all awards. But Budanov's defence said it would appeal.

The verdict brings to an end the nearly 3-year ordeal of the officer, seen by many of his supporters in Russia as a scapegoat for all abuse done by federal forces fighting a brutal war in the rebellious Caucasian region.

The first Russian officer ever to face a public examination for military crimes in Chechnya, Colonel Yuri Budanov was arrested in early 2000 on charges of raping and murdering a young Chechen woman Elza Kungayeva as well as abuse of office. Rape charges were dropped a short time later as one of Budanov's subordinates confessed that he had violated the girl's body after her death.

Before and during his first trial that began in February 2001 the colonel underwent four psychiatric examinations. In autumn last year the experts of Russia's top Serbsky Institute in Moscow declared him officially insane at the moment when he strangled Kungayeva was killed. The experts blamed Budanov's mental disorders on serious shell shock and depression.

In an unprecedented case the state prosecutor sided with the defendant's lawyers and asked the court to drop the murder charges against the officer, punishing him only with a 3-year prison term for abuse of office, and thus making him subject to amnesty.

Human rights groups, who monitored the trial closely, said that if Budanov was allowed to leave the court room a free man, it would set a precedent for absolute lawlessness and federal servicemen in Chechnya would be given the go-ahead to carry out further acts of arbitrariness.

In December 2002 a military court in Rostov-on-Don said the officer could not be held criminally liable for murder and ordered him to undergo compulsory medical treatment.

The ruling caused an outcry on the part of human rights group, Chechens and western observers. A short time after the sentence was pronounced it was challenged by the lawyer representing the aggrieved party and by the prosecutors. In late February Budanov's case was overturned by the Supreme Court and re-tria was ordered for the killer-colonel.

Kungayeva's parents, represented in court by the well-known Chechen lawyer and human rights activist Abdullah Khamzayev, said they did not expect the verdict to be just. During the first trial the Kungayevs several times asked the court to move the trial to Nazran, where the girl's mother lived, as she could not afford attend the hearings in Rostov-on-Don.

Those requests were continuously turned down, as Budanov's lawyers claimed ethnic Chechen Khamzayev was set to deliberately protract the hearing.

It is noteworthy that Budanov underwent his first two psychiatric examinations during pre-trial investigation. The results of the initial test proved that when killing the 18-year-old, Budanov was capable of appreciating the nature of his conduct. During the second examination the experts concluded that at the moment of the murder the officer had suffered a fit of rage and was temporarily insane.

Budanov's lawyers from the very start insisted that at the moment of murdering Elsa Kungayeva he was suffering a fit of rage, for he believed her to be a rebel sniper guilty of killing his fellow-servicemen.

During the first court examination of his case he underwent several more tests, in particular, at Moscow's renowned Serbsky Institute. The Serbsky experts said the colonel was temporarily insane at the moment of murder, that he could not control his actions, or appreciate their illegality.

On the basis of that conclusion, the defendant's lawyers and the prosecution asked the court to drop the murder charge. But at this moment federal authorities interfered the course of court hearings as Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov dismissed the prosecutor who had sought amnesty for Budanov. The new prosecutor asked the court for yet another psychiatric examination.

In December 2002 the psychiatrists reconfirmed Budanov's insanity, and the court, in effect, acquitted Budanov. In February this year the Supreme Court sent his case for re-trial.

The colonel, who had already spent three years in custody when the new trial began, ignored the proceedings plugging his ears with cotton-balls and reading a book in the courtroom. He refused to make any more testimonies in court and to undergo any new psychiatric tests. The Rostov-on-Don court then ordered a team of experts to examine the defendant's case right in the court room.

The team of psychiatrists, comprised of experts invited by the colonel's defence, the prosecutors and the lawyer for the Kungayevs eventually concluded that the colonel was absolutely sane and in full command of his actions during murder, though those invited by the defence added, at the time of the killing he was in a ''highly agitated state''.

Last week the state prosecutor, Vladimir Milovanov, asked the court to sentence Budanov to 12 years in prison and to strip him of his military rank and all military awards. On his part, Abdulla Khamzayev, insisted that Budanov must spend 15 years and one day behind bars giving the demand a rather strange comment that he had made a bet that Budanov would spend over 15 years in prison and did not want to lose. The girl's father said the murderer of his daughter deserves a life sentence.

Addressing the court on Wednesday this week, Budanov's lawyer Alexei Dulimov asked the court to acquit his client ofabduction and abuse of office and to relieve him of criminal responsibility for murder given his insanity. Dulimov suggested that instead Budanov should undergo compulsory treatment.

After the court decision was announced on Friday the prosecutors hailed it as impartial, whereas Budanov's defence lawyers said they would challenge it.

According to the state prosecutor Vladimir Milovanov, the prosecution considers the verdict impartial and conforming to the gravity of crimes committed by Budanov. On his part, Budanov's lawyer Alexei Dulimov told the press immediately after the verdict was pronounced that he intends to challenge it.

Officer found guilty of murder of Chechen woman
July 25, 2003 Posted: 14:39 Moscow time (10:39 GMT) 


ROSTOV-ON-DON - A Russian colonel on Friday was found guilty of kidnapping and murdering a Chechen woman and sentenced to 10 years in a maximum security prison.

Col. Yuri Budanov had admitted strangling Heda Kungayeva, 18, but said he did it in a fit of rage during an interrogation. In December, a court ruled that Budanov was temporarily insane at the time of the 2000 killing and was not criminally responsible.

However, the Supreme Court overturned that decision and ordered a new trial.

Budanov's trial has been widely watched throughout Russia for a signal into how the military plans to deal with reports of abuses in Chechnya, which have undermined the Kremlin's efforts to build trust in the war-ravaged republic.

The military court in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don declared Friday that Budanov was sane at the time of the killing and ordered the prison term along with stripping him of his military rank and his Order of Courage.

Judge Vladimir Bukreyev said he based his decision on a new psychiatric report delivered to the court last month that concluded Budanov was sane but in a "highly agitated state" at the time of the attack.

The judge also rejected defense claims that Budanov thought Kungayeva was a sniper. Kungayeva's family has said that she was dragged from her home in a Chechen village, raped and murdered during a drunken rampage by soldiers.

Budanov's 10-year sentence will include the approximately three years that he has already spent in custody. The court also ordered him to pay more than 500,000 rubles (US$16,500) to Kungayeva's family for moral damages.

A lawyer for the Chechen woman's family had asked the court to sentence the officer to 15 years and 10 days in prison, and the prosecution had asked for 12 years.

Prosecutor Vladimir Milovanov said he was satisfied with the sentence, even though it was less than he had requested. "I think it was legal, well-grounded and objective," he said.

Budanov's lawyer Alexei Dulimov called the verdict "not legal and not fair" and said he would appeal. No representatives of the victim's family attended the sentencing.

Budanov had strongly objected to his second trial. He often was escorted out of the courtroom due to outbursts and routinely stuffed cotton balls in his ears during proceedings. Russia's Interfax news agency reported Friday that Budanov removed the cotton balls from his ears shortly before the sentencing, which he listened to in silence.

After the sentence was announced, Budanov was allowed to speak briefly with his wife, Svetlana, and sister, who both left the courtroom in tears.

Supporters from Russia National Unity ultranationalist group stood outside the court to demonstrate moral support for Budanov.

/The Associated Press/