Residents of Chechnya disbelieve in a fair verdict to Arakcheev and Khudyakov

The majority of residents of Chechnya are convinced that Russian officers Arakcheev and Khudyakov accused of murdering three Chechens in January 2003 will incur no punishment.

"It seems to me that in the so-called 'Arakcheev-Khudyakov's case' we face, just like practically in all the trials of this sort, the desire of the judiciary to withdraw the accused persons away from the deserved punishment. The same was in Budanov's case, whom they first announced to be 'insane', then acquitted him and then sentenced him to 10 years in colony, where as far as I know, he lives happily. And Ulman's group was 'trialled' for so long that they had eventually disappeared from the investigation. The same happens now," an employee of one of local human rights organizations told in his conversation with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"Same as Ulman's group, Arakcheev and Khudyakov were twice acquitted by the jury. Despite the available evidences, the investigation on this case was unfairly protracted. Now, it has become known that the murderer of peaceful citizens Arakcheev runs for the State Duma of Russia. Should he get his deputy's mandate, he will be automatically exempted from any criminal punishment," he added.