On March 27, 2000, Kheda Kungaeva, an eighteen-year-old woman, was taken from her home in Chechnya, beaten, raped, and murdered. (1) On February 28, 2001, the Rostov District Military Court will try Col. Yuri Budanov for Kungaeva's murder. It is the first and only case in which Russian authorities promptly and publicly acknowledged a crime, perpetrated by Russian federal forces against civilians in Chechnya, that constitutes a gross violation of international humanitarian and human rights law. (2)
The military has portrayed Budanov's behavior as an exceptional example of wanton criminality by a serviceman. (3) However, the abduction, beating, rape, and murder of Kungaeva reflect a pattern of violations perpetrated by federal forces that has been exhaustively documented by Human Rights Watch and other nongovernmental organizations.
You can read all about Col. Budanov and the number of Russians who were killed to protect him from justice.
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