RUSSIA: Russian psychiatrists have ruled that a colonel accused of murdering a Chechen teenager was sane at the time, overturning an earlier finding in what is seen as a test case for Moscow's willingness to address rights abuses in the region.
Col Yuri Budanov has admitted strangling Heda Kungayeva (18) in March 2000, but his lawyers say he thought she was a rebel sniper and killed her in a rage which left him temporarily insane.
Ms Kungayeva's parents, who say Col Budanov raped and killed their daughter while he was drunk, have denounced his lawyers' claim as an attempt to win him a light sentence.
Psychiatrists had previously declared Col Budanov insane at the time of the murder and a court subsequently absolved him of responsibility for her death. Human rights activists denounced the decision and Russia's Supreme Court quashed it and ordered a retrial.
Some members of the latest medical panel noted that Col Buydanov had certain "psychological limitations" at the time of the attack, but stopped short of declaring him temporarily insane.
Col Budanov is the first senior army officer to be tried for rights abuses in Chechnya, where civilians regularly accuse federal forces of kidnap, rape and murder. While admitting some lapses of discipline, Moscow says the accusations are exaggerated.
