12:50, 1 April 2008

Court again refuses to free Budanov accused of murdering Chechen girl

The court of the city of Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk Region, has again rejected to provide early-conditional release to former colonel Yuri Budanov, convicted for murdering a Chechen girl in 2000. This is the third refusal of the court already.

The information about the court's refusal to free Budanov was spread by Vassily Zima, senior assistant of the Regional Public Prosecutor. Now, Yuri Budanov has already served two thirds of his term in Dimitrovgrad Colony No. 3, consequently, he has a formal right for early-conditional release.

"The court has announced only the substantive provisions of the decision, where the reason of the refusal is not announced, but, as far as we know, Budanov has not admitted his guilt of murdering Kungaeva. This was confirmed by the commander of the colony detachment, where Budanov serves his term, who also spoke to the court," the RIA "Novosti" quotes Vassily Zima as saying.

We remind you that this is already the third release petition lodged by former colonel Yuri Budanov, who is kept in the Colony since 2004.