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TITLE: Russian Colonel in Murder Trial |
AUTHOR: Boris Shamborov |
PUB: IWPR |
DATE: February 23, 2001 |
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A Russian army colonel is to stand trial on February 28 for the murder of an 18-year-old Chechen girl who was strangled during a field interrogation then buried in a makeshift grave. Yuri Budanov, 37, commander of the 160th Tank Regiment, claims that Elza Kungaeva, from the Tangi village near Urus-Martan, was a crack sniper who had killed several of his men. And the colonel - whose arrest coincided with widespread allegations of war crimes in Chechnya - enjoys considerable support from federal army circles and the Russian public at large. According to Lieutenant-General Yuri Yakovlev, of the military prosecutor's office, Budanov burst into the girl's home on the evening of March 27, threatened her parents with a gun and abducted her. He took Kungaeva back to the regimental base where she was interrogated and brutally strangled. The colonel then ordered three soldiers to bury her body in a shallow grave. Budanov was arrested three days later when he admitted to strangling Kungaeva in a "fit of temporary insanity". He said that he had been emotionally unbalanced by a recent spate of sniper casualties in his unit and had reason to believe that Kungaeva was responsible for the shootings. Lt-Gen Yakovlev said, "If he had information that the Chechen was a sniper, he should have informed the law enforcement bodies. Budanov's military duty was to fight the Chechen bandits not to wage a private war against the civilian population." He added that Budanov was drunk at the time of the murder. He had spent the previous day celebrating the election victory of Vladimir Putin, "the army's choice for Russian president". Ironically, it was the newly elected president who seized on Budanov's case as an opportunity to prove to the international community that Russian troops in Chechnya were being held accountable for their actions. The arrest took on greater political significance when the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe threatened to strip Russia of its voting rights over allegations of human rights abuses in the breakaway republic. Anatoly Kvashnin, chief of the Russian General Staff, announced publicly, "Budanov is the kind of swine who should be rooted out of the Russian army." However, other Russian commanders protested that Budanov was being used as a scapegoat to appease the international community. They pointed out that the colonel had served throughout the Chechen campaign with distinction and had recently been awarded the Order of Courage. Budanov's new-found martyr status was thrown into sharp relief when, in April, Chechen field commander Shamil Basaev threatened to shoot nine prisoners-of-war unless the colonel was handed over to rebel forces within four days. The Russians refused to surrender Budanov and Basaev promptly executed the nine men - the only survivors of a Perm OMON unit which was virtually annihilated during an ambush in the Vedeno Gorge. This twist sparked further outrage in the Russian military. Army commanders began to say their colleague had been victimised by old enemies in the Ministry of the Interior while the OMON were incensed that nine of their comrades had died to protect an army officer. Several influential newspapers joined the outcry. Yevgeny Krutikov, of Izvestia, wrote, "Budanov didn't act according to the rules of the Geneva Convention but according to the rules of civil war. In a civil war, a code of vengeance always eclipses legal considerations." And political commentator Leonid Savchenko said, "Yuri Budanov became a sacrificial bone which, at a critical moment, the authorities threw to the influential "human rights" cabal which dreams of the defeat of the Russian army, negotiations with Maskhadov and another Khasavyurt [treaty]. His card was played several times in the international anti-Russian campaign." Meanwhile, Rossiiskaya Gazeta cited the case of Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Glebov, commander of the 119th Parachute Regiment, who was arrested for the murder of dozens of Chechen civilians in a Grozny suburb during the first campaign. Glebov had been awarded the Hero of Russia medal - Russia's highest military honour - just days before his arrest. However, prosecutors claimed he had gunned down a group of unarmed men, then planted weapons on their bodies in a bid to claim credit for defeating an enemy unit. The newspaper pointed out that Glebov's case had later been shelved and the colonel was allowed to resign his commission without any blot on his military record. Rossiiskaya Gazeta quoted Budanov as saying, "I very much regret what happened. I didn't intend to strangle that girl. But I want to stress that she wasn't just an ordinary civilian but a sniper, the enemy, who had killed several of my officers." He said he was appalled that nine men had lost their lives to save his. "If peace in Chechnya depended on my life, I would gladly sacrifice myself to put an end to this bloody war. But, all the same, it's good that my enemies remember me. It means that I fought well." Asked whether or not he saw himself as a scapegoat, Budanov replied, "I am guilty and am ready to answer for my crime." Budanov - who faces life imprisonment if found guilty -- will be tried together with his chief of staff, Lieutenant-Colonel Ivan Fedorov. Fedorov stands accused of ordering his tanks to bombard Tangi on March 27, as a "firing exercise". One house was destroyed during the barrage. Three soldiers accused of burying Kungaeva's body were also arrested by military police but charges against them were dropped under a Duma amnesty and they were allowed to rejoin their units. END |