GROZNY. Aug 20 (Interfax) - Attempts to glorify Yusup Temerkhanov, who was convicted for killing ex-Col. Yury Budanov, are groundless, Chechnya head Ramzan Kadyrov said.
"I have never hidden and I am never hiding my attitude towards Budanov. He brought irreversible shame on himself by abducting, raping and murdering schoolgirl Elza Kungayeva in the most violent manner. Talks about Elza's being a sniper and attempting to grab a gun and shoot Budanov do no stand up to any scrutiny. But a desire to glorify Temerkhanov as a person who allegedly avenged Kungayeva is also groundless. Those attempts are unsubstantiated and futile," he told Interfax in an interview.
The Chechen head mentioned that "Temerkhanov never mentioned his involvement in Budanov's death during the investigation, the trial, while contacting his lawyers and meeting his relatives, including his mother and brother."
"According to his relatives and friends, Temerkhanov was a fearless man, who wouldn't have concealed Budanov's murder, if he had committed it," Kadyrov said.
He said he does not believe that "the court deliberately handed down an unfair judgment," but mentioned that participants in the Budanov murder trial were "subjected to strong moral and psychological pressure."
"Temerkhanov did not die suddenly in a penal colony, he was aware that his days are numbered. At least before his death, he could have said he shot Budanov to remain an avenger in people's memory. But he did not make such a confession," he said.
"Mistakes, which usually become known after the sentence is served or the capital punishment is executed, happen in the practice of courts in every country. And such things could have happened to Temerkhanov, although the court decision remained in force. But some people really want Temerkhanov to be remembered as the man who killed Budanov," Kadyrov said.
Kadyrov said he does not rule out that "the events, which followed Budanov's death, could have been provoked to pigeonhole Temerkhanov as Budanov's murderer."
"The situation was beyond strange. Temerkhanov, his mother, brother, all relatives, lawyers said he did not kill Budanov, but some people launched the campaign to assign the responsibility for Budanov's murder to Temerkhanov. There is convincing evidence that this campaign was initiated outside Russia, in the West. This suggests that its authors were completely disinterested in reality, they had to prove to the public that Temerkhanov is guilty of killing Budanov," he said.
Addressing the circumstances of Temerkhanov's funeral in Chechnya, where his body was brought to after his death in the penal colony, Kadyrov said: "Tens of thousands of people came, drove, flew to visit the Geldagan village, although none of them wrote a letter to Temerkhanov, when he had been on trial or gradually faded away on a hospital bed and in the penal colony, none of them asked about his health and incarceration conditions. And they prevented his relatives from receiving condolences and burying the deceased man in peace."
"The process launched by someone has become against the will of its authors a deliberate response to actions of those who tried to keep Budanov away from responsibility by any means, distorted the reality, invented tall tales about the sniper, although the whole world knew that the girl [Kungayeva] had never fired a shot and touched a weapon," he said.
"In all this, Temerkhanov deserves respect as a man, who was not broken by the inhuman conditions of his trial and a grave illness and who found an unprecedented strength to refrain from pleading guilty while facing his death," Kadyrov said.
"And Budanov will always remain the symbol of dishonor for the Chechens," he said.
In July 2003, Col. Yury Budanov was found guilty of abducting and killing Chechen girl Elza Kungayeva and sentenced to ten years in prison. The court deprived Budanov of his rank, the Order of Courage, and the right to hold certain posts for three years.
On December 24, 2008, a Dimitrovograd court granted Budanov's petition for release on parole. The lawyers of the aggrieved appealed the court's decision, preventing his prompt release.
In January 2009, Budanov was released from Penal Colony No. 3 in Dimitrovograd in the Ulyanovsk region.
On June 10, 2011, he was shot dead near a notary's office on Komsomolsky Avenue in Moscow.
On May 7, 2013, the Moscow City Court sentenced Temirkhanov to 15 years in a maximum-security penal colony after the jury found him guilty.
On August 3, 2018, Temerkhanov died in the penal colony, where he served his sentence.