NIZHNY NOVGOROD. Feb 20 (Interfax-AVN) - A court has denied early release to ex-colonel Yury Budanov, convicted for murdering a Chechen woman.
"Budanov filed a request with a court for early release from prison. The request has been rejected, " Nikolai Zhukov, the head of the Volga Federal District's Penitentiary Department, told a news conference in Nizhny Novgorod.
Budanov is serving a term in a penal settlement in Ulyanovsk, where he will remain until 2010, he said.
Earlier, Budanov had been held in Prison No. 3 in Dmitrovgrad in the Ulyanovsk region, Zhukov said.
On July 25, 2003, a court found Budanov guilty of kidnapping and murdering Chechen woman Elza Kungayeva and sentenced him to ten years imprisonment. Budanov was also stripped of his military rank, and of the Order of Courage, and was banned from commanding posts for the next three years.
On October 6, 2003, the Military Board of the Supreme Court upheld the guilty verdict. In May and September 2004, Budanov applied for clemency, but subsequently withheld his requests.