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Former Colonel Yuri Budanov's murder case goes to court

Criminal proceedings against Temerkhanov's accomplice made a separate case

MOSCOW, November 6 (Itar-Tass) — Moscow prosecutors sent to a court the criminal case over the murder of former Colonel Yuri Budanov.

"The prosecutor's office of Moscow endorsed the indictment in the criminal case against Yusup Temerkhanov, 40, a native of the Chechen Republic, accused of hate murder and strife against a social group and illegal acquisition, keeping and carrying of firearm," the prosecutor's office said on Tuesday.

The defendant is in custody.

Yuri Budanov, 47, was shot and killed in central Moscow at noon on June 10, 2011, as he was leaving a notary's office in Komsomolsky Prospekt (Avenue). An unidentified attacker fired eight shots at him. The white Mitsubishi Lancer in which he fled was later found in a nearby district in Dovatora Street. Police found a pistol with a silencer in the car.

There were two criminals. One was waiting in the car, and his accomplice shot at Budanov several times. The killer was clad in military uniform.

One of the initial leads was that Budanov had been killed because of revenge.

After killing Budanov, Temerkhanov set the car on fire, thinking that the fire would destroy all the evidence of his involvement in the crime.

"However, the fire was extinguished on time. The investigators found and retrieved many items, including those that helped them ascertain the suspect's identity through DNA tests," an Investigative Committee /SK/ spokesman said earlier.

The SK said "Temerkhanov, after the murder of his father in Chechnya in 2000, decided to kill the serviceman who he believed had been involved. He chose Budanov, former commander of the 160th tank regiment well-known to the public in connection with the murder of a Chechen girl in 2000 and his subsequent trial.

In 2003, Budanov was sentenced to ten years in jail on charges of kidnapping and murdering Chechen woman Elza Kungayeva in the village of Tangi-Chu in March 2000. The North Caucasus district military court stripped him of his rank of Colonel and state decorations. A court denied his parole plea four times. On December 24, 2008, the Dimitrovgrad district court granted him parole. On January 15, 2009, the department of the Federal Penitentiary Service for the Ulyanovsk region confirmed that Budanov had left the penal colony. Chechnya said it would be seeking to arraign him for other crimes committed during his participation in the anti-terrorist operation.

The criminal proceedings against Temerkhanov's accomplice made a separate case.