President of Chechnya disbelieves Budanov's repentance

President of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov has stated that he does not trust in Yuri Budanov's repentance, when making his comments on the decision of the court on conditional early relief (CER) of former colonel convicted for murdering a Chechen girl.

The "Caucasian Knot" reported earlier that on December 24, 2008, the City Court of Dimitrovgrad (Ulyanovsk Region) satisfied Budanov's petition on his CER. Stanislav Markelov, advocate of the Kungaev family, lodged a cassation complaint against the court decision to provide CER to the former colonel. However, the court rejected the protest, having explained that it "lacks particular arguments."

"Even if he has repented, the convict for such impudent and cynical murder of innocent schoolgirl should not be covered by the CER. Moreover, he deserves a stricter punishment," said Ramzan Kadyrov.

In the opinion of Chechen President, Budanov's release under the CER means that "all the military criminals will be pardoned in his person."

"The public of the Chechen Republic is revolted with this fact," the head of the republic has emphasized. By elaborating the topic, the President of Chechnya has noted that he had not publicly commented the court decision on Budanov's CER hoping that the justice would finally not admit double standards and cancel its own decision.