Yuri Budanov
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Yuri Budanov is the only Russian military officer convinced by a Russian court as a guilty of a war crimes in Chechnya. Budanov was previously awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation, but it was stripped from him upon his conviction.
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[edit] Prosecution
Since 2001 to 2003, Russian courts tried Colonel Yuri Budanov on a war crimes charges. He was accused of kidnapping, raping (an allegation later withdrawn by the prosecution) and murdering Elza Kungaeva, an 18-year-old Chechen woman, on March 27, 2000. He was also charged in the beating of a subordinate, threatening superior officers with a weapon, and other military crimes.
Budanov was arrested on March 29, 2000. According to press reports, Budanov claimed that Kungaeva was a sniper, and that he had gone into a rage while questioning her. He reportedly admitting killing her, but denied the rape charges. According to father of the victim, Budanov's tank regiment had been encamped just outside Tangi-Chu since February 2000, and Budanov himself had a notorious reputation among villagers. About ten days before the murder of Kungaeva, Budanov reportedly arbitrarily searched and looted several homes in Tangi Chu, and on March 25 he reportedly looted and threatened to torch several other homes.
On the same day, Colonel-General Anatolii Kvashnin, chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, appeared on national television to announce to President Putin and the nation the arrest of Budanov in the grisly case; Kvashnin accused Budanov of "humiliating" and murdering Kungaeva, and denounced the colonel's behavior as "barbarous" and "disgraceful." In a stark contrast, Lieutenant-General Vladimir Shamanov, who was Budanov's commanding officer, exhibited strong sympathy towards him. Budanov, Shamanov trumpeted, "was one of my best commanders" and offered this challenge: "To [Budanov's] enemies I say: Don't put your paws on the image of a Russian soldier and officer." [1] Later, he came to Rostov-on-the-Don to defend him during trial and expressed his solidarity with defendant, as did Colonel-General Gennady Troshev.
In a controversial decision, Budanov was initially found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity on December 31, 2002 and committed to a psychiatric hospital for further evaluation and treatment. This decision has been overturned and he is now serving a ten year sentence in Ulyanovsk Oblast.
[edit] In prison
In September 21, 2004 Shamanov, now the Ulyanovsk regional governor, signed a pardon for Yury Budanov; Interfax quoted the head of the Ulyanovsk pardons commission, Anatoly Zherebtsov, as saying that if Putin backed the recommendation, Budanov would also get back his military rank and awards. The commission's decision sparked outrage in Chechnya, where never-ending kidnappings and murders of civilians are widely blamed by the local population on the Russian military. "Whether in jail or freed, Budanov will remain a person who has committed a grave crime, which took the life of an innocent girl," Taus Dzhabrailov, the head of Chechnya's pro-Moscow parliament, told Interfax.
On February 14, 2006 a Russian prison official announced Budanov, who is serving his 10-year sentence, might be released early on good behaviour.
[edit] Broad context
The military has portrayed Budanov's behavior as an exceptional example of wanton criminality by a serviceman. However, the abduction, murder, (and possibly sexual assault) of Kungaeva allegedly reflect a pattern of violations perpetrated by some members of the federal forces that has been documented by Human Rights Watch and other nongovernmental organizations. A resolution adopted in April 2000 by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights called for Russia, among other things, to establish a national commission of inquiry to investigate such crimes, but Russia has not fulfilled the resolution's requirements.
The conviction of Budanov dealt with the Kungaeva case. Some point out that this conviction should not necessarily be interpreted as a sign that Russia is committed to a meaningful accountability process for violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law by its forces in Chechnya. Russian authorities are alleged to have concealed and obstructed the prosecution of its forces for such violations; acknowledgement, investigation, and prosecution of such crimes against civilians have been alarmingly few, and many were allegedly conducted in bad faith.
[edit] The charges against Budanov and his subordinates
Budanov was charged with three crimes: kidnapping resulting in death, abuse of office accompanied by violence with serious consequences, and murder of an abductee. No charges have been brought expressly for the beating and torture Kungaeva endured prior to her death.
Budanov claimed that he detained Kungaeva on suspicion of being a sniper, and that he killed her during interrogation. The investigation, however, reportedly found that no member of the Kungaev family had in any way been suspected of involvement in the anti-Russian activity. Budanov used his official position and a military vehicle to remove Kungaeva from her home, and detained Kungaeva at a military installation. He is charged with exceeding (prevysheniye) his official position with violence resulting in serious consequences, which is punishable by three to ten years of imprisonment (article 286.3 of the criminal code).
Three of Budanov's subordinates, Sergeant Li-En-Shou, Sergeant Grigoriev, and Private Yegorev, were charged with concealing a serious crime. According to a press report, one of these men was also charged with desecration of a corpse. While it is unclear what specific criminal act triggered this charge, there are concerns that it was brought in an attempt to portray the sexual assault as an act that occurred after her death, in order to avoid bringing rape charges. Charges against all three were simultaneously brought and dropped under the May 26, 2000 amnesty law.
[edit] Lack of a rape prosecution
Initially, the case of Elza Kungaeva appeared unique; not in the brutality endured by a Chechen civilian at the hands of federal forces, which was all too familiar, but because top military officials publicly acknowledged and promptly investigated the crime. However, the authorities failed to bring charges of rape, despite the presence of conclusive forensic evidence of anal and vaginal penetration just before her death. The military procuracy declined to answer questions regarding the absence of rape charges in the Kungaeva case, citing the need for confidentiality in the proceedings. It is therefore unclear whether the procuracy is denying that she was raped, or whether it is claiming that prosecutors have not identified a suspect in the rape.
However, the forensic examination of Kungaeva's body, which took place on March 28 in the village of Tangi-Chu, provides strong evidence that she was brutally sexually penetrated just prior to her murder. The forensic physician, a captain in the Russian military medical service, found three tears in her hymen and one in the mucus membrane of her rectum, and the report concludes that she was penetrated anally and vaginally by a blunt object, perhaps an erect penis, approximately one hour before her death:
- On the body of K.V. Kungaeva these injuries were found: tears in the hymen and in the mucus membrane of the rectum, caused by insertion of a hard blunt object or objects into the rectum and into the vaginal passage, which is supported by the anatomical characteristics of the injuries specified. It cannot be ruled out that the object was an erect penis. The tears occurred not long before death (about one hour), which is indicated by the presence of blood flow in the tear of the mucus membrane of the rectum and hymen, blood flow into the mucus membrane in the area of the tears and the absence of signs of healing. In living people injuries such as these do not cause disruption of health or the loss of general well being and are not considered a threat to health.
