Colonel Budanov killed in Moscow

Colonel Budanov, who was released from jail in early 2009 after 10
years in prison for the murder of Chechen schoolgirl Elsa Kungayeva,
has been killed in Moscow, RIA Novosti reports.

Life News said that Budanov was shot six times at 38 Komsomolsky
Avenue. The assailants left the scene in a white Mitsubishi.

A man leaving a notary office was killed earlier the same day at 12:20
at the same avenue near house 38/16 . He was shot in the head from a
pistol with a silencer.

Budanov was released in January 2009. Grozny had protests against his
release, demanding the colonel’s punishment.

The Chechen authorities wanted Budanov to be sentenced to life. They
were collecting information on missing citizens where the colonel
served. But the main charges were made on the murder of a girl from
the village of Tangi-Chu.

The colonel has never apologized for the murder. He only gave several
telephone interviews to Komsomolskaya Pravda. He was believed to have
moved to Ukraine, where his relatives had been living.