GROZNY, Russia (AP) _ More than 1,000 people have gathered in the Chechen capital of Grozny to protest a court's decision to grant parole to a Russian colonel convicted of murder.
Protesters on a central Grozny square on Thursday carried posters reading “A murderer should sit in prison” and “Murderers deserve life sentences.” A court in Dimitrovgrad ruled earlier this week that Col. Yuri Budanov be released 8$ years into his 10-year sentence. Budanov was arrested in early 2000 and convicted in 2003 of murdering an 18-year-old Chechen woman, Heda Kungayeva. He admitted strangling her, but said he did it in a fit of rage while interrogating her believing her to be a rebel sniper.
Budanov’s case has been closely watched as a test of authorities’ determination to deal with abuses in Chechnya.
