Word: budanov
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Budanov gave his condolences to the families of the slain on Tuesday. A statement by his lawyer asserted that the former colonel - who has become a hero in nationalist circles - had nothing to do with the killing...
...Stanislav Markelov was killed Monday afternoon, shot point-blank in the head, police say, as he walked to his car just a mile from the Kremlin. Markelov, 34, had just given a press conference in which he had announced he would continue to fight the early parole of Yury Budanov, a decorated tank commander who had admitted to and was convicted of the strangling death of an 18-year-old Chechen woman in 2000. Anastasia Baburova, 25, a freelance journalist for Novaya Gazeta, a newspaper covering the Budanov case, was also shot as she walked with Markelov; she later died...
...what really put Markelov in the spotlight was his representation of the family of Elza Kungayeva - the 18-year-old Chechen woman whom Budanov had strangled in his quarters in March 2000 just as Russia's second war in Chechnya was beginning. The Budanov case became a symbol for the thousands of human-rights abuses committed by both sides in Chechnya. Budanov served part of a 10-year sentence but was paroled for good behavior and released last Thursday. At the news conference just before his death, Markelov said he might file an appeal against Budanov's early release...
...Budanov's release sparked protests across Chechnya. On Tuesday, hundreds gathered in Grozny, the Chechen capital, to mourn the murders. Though Chechnya has recently experienced an economic rebound of sorts, the general instability of the region has reached far beyond the borders of the small republic. Just five months ago, Ruslan Yamadayev, the head of a leading Chechen clan opposed to Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, was gunned down while waiting at a red light in front of the British embassy in central Moscow. A week ago, Umar Israilov, a former Kadyrov bodyguard, was shot to death in Vienna...
...Budanov, 38, was a rising star in the Russian army when he came back to Chechnya as commander of the 160th tank regiment in September 1999. He was a hardened veteran of both Chechen wars, having earned two medals for valor and two early promotions that put him on the fast track to a general's stars. But that brilliant military career went off the rails when Budanov became the first high-ranking Russian officer to be charged with what amounts to a war crime: the abduction and premeditated murder of Kheda Kungayeva. Full Story...