Troops Still Abusing Chechens, Russian Says

Russia’s top official in Chechnya on Monday denounced the behavior of Russian troops in the republic, saying new guidelines imposed by the military to curb abuses were being flouted on the ground.

“People still disappear without a trace,” Akhmad Kadyrov, head of Chechnya’s Moscow-appointed administration, told reporters in the republic’s capital, Grozny. “Those involved in the operations do not introduce themselves or say where those arrested are to be moved or what the charges against them are.”

Kadyrov said he also took issue with a psychiatric evaluation declaring Russian Col. Yuri Budanov--the only high-ranking officer facing prosecution for misdeeds in the war-ravaged republic--temporarily insane at the time he killed an 18-year-old Chechen woman.

The psychiatric finding announced last week is widely believed to lay the groundwork for a light sentence or even an acquittal in the closely watched 15-month-long trial, which appears to be drawing to a close.

“We will not be able to restore order until everyone is held responsible for their conduct, regardless of rank or post,” Kadyrov said in remarks shown on national television.

The military’s new operational guidelines, known as Order 80, were imposed in late March in an apparent effort to raise accountability among Russian troops. Service personnel were ordered to identify themselves when entering a house, ensure that registration numbers on their vehicles are visible, keep public records of all suspects detained in document sweeps or special operations, and inform detainees’ families of their place of detention.

Local administrators, prosecutors and journalists were granted permission to observe such operations.

Kadyrov’s remarks were the sharpest criticism from a prominent Russian official since the guidelines went into effect. Kadyrov appears to have close relations with the Kremlin; he recently was granted elevated powers by President Vladimir V. Putin.

Aslambek Aslakhanov, Chechnya’s representative in Russia’s lower house of parliament, said Kadyrov’s remarks were not a commentary on Kremlin policy but a natural reaction to the facts in light of his responsibilities.

“Since he is the head of the republic, he and his actions are watched very closely by all Chechen people,” Aslakhanov said.

Kadyrov’s statements confirm reports from the region and from human rights groups that Russian troops continue to conceal their identities during so-called zachistka operations, or document sweeps, and that local officials and other observers have been kept away.

Memorial, Russia’s most prominent human rights watchdog group, says it has documented the disappearance of dozens of civilians since Order 80 was announced. In two operations in the town of Alkhan-Kala, the group says, about two dozen residents died or disappeared.

Russian military officers and prosecutors who met with human rights observers in Grozny last month did not deny that the order was being violated, but they described the abuses as “the actions of individual, undisciplined servicemen and commanders,” according to an account of the meeting posted by Memorial on its Web site.

As for the Budanov case, Kadyrov said the psychiatric evaluation of the colonel as temporarily insane defied common sense.

“I wonder how Budanov could have been appointed as a regiment commander and entrusted with control over personnel and weapons if he is not responsible for his actions,” Kadyrov said.

Budanov has admitted to strangling Elza Kungayeva, also known as Kheda Kungayeva, in his private tent in March 2000. He says he took her into the tent for interrogation and killed her in a fit of rage after she denied being a sniper for Chechen rebels and insulted him.

According to Russian news reports based on court documents, Budanov then ordered several of his subordinates to retrieve the body from his tent.

The soldiers found Kungayeva naked, her ripped clothes on the ground.

He ordered them to bury her in the forest, where her body was later recovered.

Prosecutors, who originally charged Budanov with rape as well as murder, have since dropped the rape charge, saying instead that she was “desecrated” after death by one of the soldiers ordered to bury her.

They say they believe Budanov’s account of the murder and agree with the evaluation that he was temporarily insane.

“They have been looking for almost a year and a half for a way to help Budanov escape justice and come out unscathed. There have been lots of psychiatric examinations of the accused, and finally the court has found an examination board that would pronounce Budanov insane,” Aslakhanov said. “This is a classic example of doing something by fair means or foul. Needless to say, the court has behaved in a most reprehensible way.”

The Kungayev family, apparently believing that it has little power to affect the case’s outcome, has often failed to appear at court hearings, which has dragged out the trial for 15 months.

Russia has fought two wars against separatists in Chechnya.

Troops regained control of most of the republic two years ago, but they continue to conduct operations to root out guerrillas hiding among the civilian population.

Alexei V. Kuznetsov of The Times’ Moscow Bureau contributed to this report.