Yuri Budanov interrogated on suspicion of murdering Chechen residents

Yuri Budanov, who served his term for murdering a Chechen girl, and released in the end of 2008, was interrogated as a suspect under a new criminal case. The ex-colonel is suspected of involvement to murdering three residents of Chechnya.

Today, the Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO) has clarified again that in 2000 eighteen residents of Chechnya were detained at the block post located at Duba-Yurt village of the Shali District of the Chechen Republic. According to local residents, on January 13, 2000, refugees Vakha Titaev, Visit Arsnukaev, Hussein Didaev and Said-Magomed Delmukhanov were taken away in an unknown direction. Later, mutilated bodies of three of them were found in the local cemetery. Delmukhanov is still missing.

The interrogated Budanov has completely denied his involvement in this murder; however, the investigation has made a decision to hold a number of molecular-genetic judicial examinations, as reported by the "Gazeta.Ru".

Several persons were recognized as victims in the case. They, as well as the witnesses of the crime are interrogated about circumstances of their relatives' disappearances. Military inspectors are also studying the version about involvement of other persons in disappearance of local residents.

The "Argumenty i Facty" weekly writes referring to some sources that Budanov lives somewhere in the region of Moscow and now works for an organization close to power agencies.