Family of killed Chechen girl to appeal against resolution of Russian courtRuslan Isayev, North Caucasus, January 4 – The family of Elza Kungayeva, the Chechen girl murdered by Colonel Yuri Budanov nearly three years ago, intends to appeal against the resolution of the military court in Rostov-on-Don that ruled the Russian officer insane and ordered his psychiatric treatment. According to the girl’s father Visa Kungayev, this is to happen immediately after the New Year holidays.
Visa Kungayev told the Prague Watchdog correspondent that this development came as no surprise to him. “Instead of finding the murderer guilty and convicting him under the Russian laws, they declare a man who had been for several years commanding a tank regiment of the Russian military insane. As a father who has lost his daughter I cannot accept such a verdict,” he says.
Since the beginning of the trial, the circumstances allowed for no other outcome, according to Visa Kungayev. “During the trial, local nationalists and skinheads constantly rallied outside the court building. It affected the attitude of both our side and the side of the defendant,” he elaborates.
Elza Kungayeva’s family pleaded several times with the authorities asking to move the trial to Chechnya or Ingushetia, where it temporarily resides. In addition, the attorney Abdulla Khamzayev has recently addressed the Ingush President Murat Zyazikov with the request to move the trial to Ingushetia. The President’s press service responded that Ingushetia has enough problems of its own.
Visa Kungayev thinks that throughout the years, the case has switched from an ordinary criminal trial into a political issue. “By their decision, they are showing that killing a Chechen man or woman in Russia is not such a big crime. In more than two years, they imprisoned so many Chechens charged with made-up offences while where there are witnesses and the rape and murder is an obvious fact, they have not been able to arrive at a just verdict,” Kungayev says sadly.
Meanwhile, top Russian officers consider Budanov almost a hero. In his most recent interview for one of the Russian mass media, General Manilov, a former representative of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense and today’s member of the Council of Federation, said that Budanov got into trouble and needs support. “We will do our best to help the colonel come back,” said Manilov.
The Rostov court declared Budanov insane based on three court-ordered psychiatric evaluations. The other side has no doubts about Budanov’s sanity. Visa Kungayev says that his family required to involve foreign specialists in the examination but this was denied.
The future will reveal further development of the case. If the Supreme Court leaves the court resolution unchanged, the family of the murdered girl is ready to complain at international judicial authorities. (P/T) |
