And there, as music blared above her cries, Colonel Budanov pummeled Elza Kungayeva's face, cut off her clothes with a knife and, finally, pushed her onto his cot and strangled her. In the trial of Colonel Budanov, unfolding nearly a year later, none of the events above are in dispute. What remains very much in dispute not just in the courtroom, but on the streets and in military circles is whether he did anything worth punishing. The trial of Colonel Budanov, which resumes on Tuesday, is a Rorschach test of Russian justice and society, a grisly image whose meaning depends entirely on who is viewing it. Democrats see a test of whether a nation blind to Stalin's mass slaughter can stubbornly continue to see no evil in Chechnya.
Nationalists see another plot by foreigners to humble Russia and impose their moral code.
The great sea of ordinary Russians, used to taking their cue from authority, wavers. The rest were unsure. It is with these people that the outcome of the Budanov trial innocent or guilty, fair or rigged will resonate. It has a huge meaning if it doesn't happen. I don't envy the judges.