As noted in his later murder trial by Dr. Stuart Turner, Royal College of Psychiatrists in London, Budanov participated in a military operation in the Argun River gorge in January 2000, where more than half of his regiment officers were killed, supposedly from sniper fire.

[4][5] He was home for a leave in February 2000, where had talked about the killed officers in the Argun River gorge with his family, showed photographs of the fallen, looked nervous, depressive (from Stuart Turner expertise).

He had gained a notorious reputation amongst villagers, having conducted arbitrary searches and looting of several homes ten days prior to the murder.

Budanov and three soldiers took Elza Kungayeva (who went by Kheda), the eldest daughter, out of the house and drove her away in an armored personnel carrier.

Villagers then traveled to nearby Urus-Martan to search for her, and were told by a federal commander that Kungayeva had been raped and killed by drunken men.

Kvashnin accused Budanov of "humiliating" and murdering Kungayeva, and denounced the colonel's behavior as "barbaric and "disgraceful.

[12] In relation to the case of Kungayeva, Budanov was charged with three crimes: kidnapping resulting in death, abuse of office accompanied by violence with serious consequences, and murder of an abductee.

The forensic physician, a Captain in the Russian military medical service, found three tears in her hymen and one in the mucous membrane of her rectum, and the report concludes that she was penetrated anally and vaginally by a blunt object before death.

He expressed his solidarity with the defendant, as did Colonel-General Gennady Troshev and numerous other Russian soldiers and civilians who picketed the court.

[18] In a controversial decision, Budanov was initially found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity on 31 December 2002, and committed to a psychiatric hospital for further evaluation and the length of the treatment would have been decided by his doctor.

"Whether in jail or freed, Budanov will remain a person who has committed a grave crime, which took the life of an innocent girl," Taus Dzhabrailov, the head of Chechnya's parliament, told Interfax.

"[citation needed] In February 2006, a Russian prison official announced that Budanov, who was serving his 10-year sentence, might be released early on good behaviour.

[citation needed] The Chechen regional branch of the United Russia party addressed the State Duma and the Russian President with a request not to grant amnesty to Budanov.

[24] The lawyer for the Kungayeva family, Stanislav Markelov, who had attempted a last-minute appeal against the release of Budanov, was shot dead in Moscow on 19 January 2009 along with Anastasia Baburova, a 25-year-old journalist for Novaya Gazeta.

[citation needed] Russian police investigators commented that the attack was carefully planned and they considered blood revenge as one of the likely motives.

According to investigation, Temerkhanov's motive was revenge for his father, who was killed in 2000 during the Second Chechen War by Russian troops who refused to pay for their food in his restaurant.

[30] Temerkhanov's defense lawyer, Murad Musayev, was charged with trying to bribe two jury members to find his client not guilty.

[35] Chechnya president Ramzan Kadyrov said that Mr Temerkhanov had been tried and imprisoned illegally due to anti-Chechen bias of Russian law enforcement.