DATE=12/31/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-297942

TITLE=RUSSIA / TRIAL (S)

BYLINE=REBECCA SANTANA

DATELINE=MOSCOW

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: A Russian court has acquitted a high-ranking military officer who was accused of human rights abuses in Chechnya. VOA's Rebecca Santana has more from Moscow.

TEXT: A court in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don cleared Colonel Yuri Budanov of charges of abducting and strangling to death a woman in the breakaway Russian region of Chechnya.

The court ruled he was mentally ill at the time of the murder and was therefore not responsible for it. Mr. Budanov was ordered to a psychiatric hospital.

Mr. Budanov is the highest-ranking Russian officer to face charges for crimes committed in Chechnya. The colonel admitted strangling 18-year-old Elza Kungayeva but said he did so in a fit of rage because she was a sniper.

Her family denies she was a sniper and says she was pulled out of the house at night by a group of drunken soldiers, who raped and killed her.

The organization Human Rights Watch has criticized the court ruling, saying it shows Russia's 'shallow' commitment to stopping human rights abuses by its forces in Chechnya.

Human rights groups have long accused the Russian military and Chechen rebels of committing abuses against civilians in Chechnya. (Signed)

NEB/RS/KL/FC