NOVOSIBIRSK, Russia. Feb 20 (Interfax-AVN) - An army officer has been sentenced to five years in prison for murdering a soldier in Chechnya.
Lieutenant Colonel Andrei Belenko was deputy commander of a tank regiment in Chechnya when he committed the murder in 1999, the Novosibirsk Garrison Court told Interfax on Thursday.
One of the regiment's soldiers, Igor Urbagayev, fell asleep while on guard and was found sleeping by an officer. When the officer turned around after reprimanding Urbagayev, the soldier shot him in the head. The officer survived, but while he was being given medical aid, Urbagayev deserted with his weapons.
After being found during a search operation, Urbagayev was shot dead by Belenko. His body was found in 2000.
Belenko told the court he had committed the murder in a fit of rage but psychiatrists pronounced him sane during the killing. The court gave him a milder sentence, however, accepting that the murder had partly been provoked by Urbagayev's conduct.
Colonel Yuri Budanov was Belenko's regiment commander. Budanov was tried recently for murdering a teenaged Chechen girl, but was pronounced insane and sentenced to mandatory psychiatric treatment.
Belenko will serve his sentence in a high security jail. Prior to his conviction, he led a penal battalion in the Novosibirsk garrison.