4 Troops Convicted in Chechnya Killings

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

4 Troops Convicted in Chechnya Killings

Friday June 15, 2007 5:16 AM

By SERGEI VENYAVSKY

Associated Press Writer

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (AP) - Four soldiers were convicted
Thursday of killing a truck driver and five passengers in Chechnya,
but three of the defendants have been missing since disappearing
while on trial.

A three-judge panel of southern Russia's top military court
sentenced Capt. Eduard Ulman in absentia to 14 years in prison
for the January 2002 killings. Three of his subordinates were
sentenced to nine, 11 and 12 years.

The men, who claimed they were following orders, had been
acquitted in two previous trials, but the Supreme Court
overturned those verdicts. In Russia, the Supreme Court can
throw out acquittals on procedural grounds.

-snip-

He said the soldiers discovered they had killed one of the six
people in the truck and wounded two others. He claimed they
were then ordered by superiors in radio messages to kill the
survivors and make it look like the truck was carrying rebels and
had blown up on a mine.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6711104,00.html