Pardon for Russian officer would 'spit in the soul of Chechens'

The most senior Russian army officer to have been convicted of war crimes in Chechnya was put forward for a presidential pardon yesterday, less than 18 months after he was found guilty of strangling an 18-year-old Chechen woman.

The most senior Russian army officer to have been convicted of war crimes in Chechnya was put forward for a presidential pardon yesterday, less than 18 months after he was found guilty of strangling an 18-year-old Chechen woman.

The suggestion, by the governor of the Ulyanovsk region, a man who was Colonel Yuri Budanov's commanding officer at the time, drew angry protests from human rights groups and Moscow-friendly Chechen politicians. Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's deputy prime minister and a man who has been accused of torture, kidnap and brutality, said the proposal, initiated by a regional appeals board, was an outrage.

"The board's recommendations spit into the soul of the Chechen people who have suffered so much," he said. "And not only them: giving Budanov his rank and medals back would be like spitting at everyone who fought with honour. If it [the pardon] goes ahead we will find a way of giving him his just desserts."

The final decision falls to President Vladimir Putin, who is under pressure from Russian hardliners, who appear to be in the ascendancy because of a wave of anti-Chechen sentiment generated by the Beslan school massacre. Russian nationalists portray Budanov as a patriot caught up in an unpopular war, and say that he was unfairly singled out. They give credence to his original story, that he thought the school student was a rebel sniper. Budanov was convicted of killing Elsa Kungayeva in July 2003 after first being acquitted of the crime on the ground of temporary insanity. He admitted he had strangled her after becoming frustrated during her interrogation and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Budanov says he thought she was a rebel sniper who had picked off several men. No evidence of any aggressive action on her part has been produced.

The girl's family, who have since emigrated to Norway, say that on 26 March 2000, drunken soldiers from Budanov's 160th tank division abducted Ms Kungayeva from their home at 1am. A forensic examination would later show that she was raped before Budanov strangled her. Budanov was charged with her rape, but then another young soldier serving under him admitted the crime; he was later pardoned in an amnesty.

Budanov's case was notable since he was the first Russian officer to be prosecuted for a crime against a civilian in Chechnya. The affair quickly came to be perceived as a barometer of Moscow's willingness to crack down on human rights abuses in Chechnya.

Russian media report that he has been put forward for a pardon because of his good behaviour in prison; he oversees a sports club and "has himself achieved good results in sport". If he is released, something that could not happen before the new year at the earliest, a new life in Moscow already awaits him. An unnamed Moscow bank has already offered him work as a security guard and his wife is renovating a service flat.

The regional appeals board has recommended that his rank be fully reinstated, he be given back his medals and be allowed to work for the state again.

Dmitry Kozak, Mr Putin's plenipotentiary in southern Russia and a close confidant of the President, has hinted that the Kremlin is ready to sign off on the pardon. The Defence Minister, Sergey Ivanov, has also weighed in on Budanov's side, saying he sympathised with him as a human being and that he was not a criminal but "a victim of circumstances and our legislative shortcomings".

Human rights groups are less forgiving. "The man is not in the slightest deserving of a pardon," said Oleg Orlov, head of the rights group Memorial. "He committed a horrible crime and has shown no remorse. He did not defend Russia's interests; in fact Budanov caused grave damage to Russia's interests and its prestige."