Witnesses have spoken

Budanov's case has moved forward

A month and a half after the start of the trial of Colonel Yuri Budanov, accused of murdering 18-year-old Chechen Elza Kungaeva, the court finally began to consider the case on the merits. Yesterday in Rostov-on-Don the first witness was interrogated - the father of the deceased, Visa Kungaev.

Elsa’s father outlined his own version of the events a year ago that led to the death of the girl, whom Colonel Budanov, at least at the time of the murder, considered a sniper and militant. The most attention was drawn to Visa Kungaev's statement that his daughter was not only killed, but also raped. In support of his words, Visa presented the court with a copy of the forensic medical examination report, according to which traces of rape were found on the corpse of Elza Kungaeva. The examination was carried out by the 124th Rostov Laboratory of Medical and Forensic Identification of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. However, in a similar document filed in the case, information about rape is completely absent. On this occasion, public prosecutor Stanislav Dmitrievsky, representing the Nizhny Novgorod Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, said that, in his opinion, “we are talking about investigative forgery, which still needs to be dealt with.” However, for now Visa Kungaev refuses to provide the court with the original document confirming the fact of rape, although he continues to insist that he has such paper.

Another witness in the case of Yuri Budanov, the head of the administration of the village of Tangi-Chu, where the drama took place a year ago, read out a letter addressed to the Prosecutor General’s Office on behalf of the residents of Tangi-Chu. The letter describes the horrors that Colonel Budanov allegedly committed in Tangi-Chu, in addition to the murder of Elsa Kungaeva. So far, the head of the Tangi-Chu administration has not provided any evidence that this actually happened.

At the next court hearing, questioning of witnesses will continue.

Igor BURAKOV, Rostov-on-Don