The Budanov farce

[Aidoneus]

the strange case that won't die..

The Budanov farce
July 21, 2003 Posted: 17:11 Moscow time (13:11 GMT)

The seemingly interminable trial of Col. Yury Budanov, the highest-profile of the cases brought against military personnel in Chechnya on grounds of human-rights abuses, has been through many twists and turns. The latest development is the call by the lawyer of the family of the aggrieved that he be sentenced to 15 years and 10 days in prison. (The time suggested is, bizarrely enough, the result of a bet with Budanov that he would be sentenced to more than 15 years, or so says Abdulla Khamzayev, the lawyer in question.) Budanov's lawyer, Alexei Dulimov, is to make his closing argument on Wednesday. Only then will we know the accused's fate.

Having dragged on for over two years, the trial of Budanov — who admits to having strangled a young Chechen woman, Heda Kungayeva — has been viewed as the litmus test for the Kremlin's willingness to punish what it itself calls abuses against the civilian population in Chechnya. Thus far, the prognosis hasn't been good.

On the one hand, the government should be commended for at least admitting that its soldiery is engaged in brutalities against the Chechen population and making at least some effort to address this violent reality. This is probably in part due to the need to assimilate Chechnya into the Russian Federation as a normal republic, which obviously will be difficult or impossible with an aggrieved mass of ordinary Chechens. Also, it probably says something about the persistence of human-rights campaigners and the effects of the West finally acknowledging that Russia has a very real problem in the Caucasus that has to be addressed — after all, it is only after the United States began putting Chechen warlords onto its terrorist list that Russia began receptive to any criticism of its military campaign at all. This is not merely a token nod in the Kremlin's direction to show that we are even-handed, either: The government's acknowledgement of brutality by the hands of its own soldiers is a big step forward, and is historically unusual: It took the very public airing of dirty laundry over My Lai for the United States to admit that the hands of its military personnel were sometimes far from clean.

Nevertheless, the Budanov case has been a farce. The question of guilt is closed, as he has admitted to the murder himself. Copping the "I just got really mad" defense, Budanov claims he was in a rage at the time of the killing and so was temporarily insane — and, hence, not legally or ethically responsible for his actions. Since then, the temporary-insanity defense was upheld by a court, then overturned and a new trial called for.

--snip--

http://www.russiajournal.com/news/cnews-article.shtml?nd=39509

another piece from a couple weeks ago, an update of his status
Colonel found sane at time of killing of Chechen woman
http://www.russiajournal.com/news/cnews-article.shtml?nd=39092

[bemildred]

1. Update

Colonel jailed for Chechen murder
From correspondents in Moscow
July 25, 2003

IN a landmark human rights ruling, a court in southern Russia
today sentenced a Russian colonel to 10 years in prison for
killing a young Chechen woman while serving in the war in
breakaway Chechnya.

Yury Budanov, the highest ranking officer to be put on trial for a
crime committed in the Chechen war, was also stripped of his
rank and military decorations, the Interfax news agency said.

The 40-year-old tank commander has admitted to killing
18-year-old Elsa Kungayeva in March 2000, but contends he
was temporarily insane at the time and was convinced she was
a rebel sniper.

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6810805%255E1702,00.html