Defence in Yuri Budanov's murder case appeals against the verdict

The advocates of Yusup Temerkhanov, who was today convicted by the court for killing the former Colonel Yuri Budanov and sentenced to 15 years in a high security colony and 1.5 years of restricted freedom, have appealed against the verdict of guilty. In their turn, the prosecutors and the victims said they were satisfied with the verdict and consider it legitimate.

Today, the court that was trying Yuri Budanov's murder has re-qualified the charges of the defendant Yusup Temerkhanov from Part 2, Article 105 (a murder motivated by blood feud) to Part 1, Article 105 (murder) of the Russian Criminal Code, found him guilty and sentenced to 15 years at high security colony and 1.5 years of freedom restriction.

In his brief complaint, the lawyer Valentin Varkentin asked the court to overturn the verdict and send the case to new consideration. In his turn, Murad Musaev, another Temerkhanov's advocate, after the announcement treated the verdict as "flawed" and said that it would be challenged both at the appeal and at the cassation instances of the Supreme Court of Russia.

"The chances of success of the appeal are negligible; however, our complaints are at the ECtHR; and we'll use all the means. A murder without a motive is impossible. The judge refused to dismiss the jury, when there were reasons to do it; and then he passed the verdict of guilty," said Musaev.

In their turn, the prosecutors were satisfied with the court verdict and the punishment assigned to the defendant. "The sentence is legal; the court has taken into account all the data and all the circumstances. There was no pressure on anyone during the trial. The complaint of the defence against the dissolution of the jury at the first trial had been rejected by the court," the prosecutor Maria Semenenko has explained.

The suffered party - Valery Budanov - has also stated that he believes the verdict was legitimate.