#6323
[Second Issue of the Day]
#7
Moscow Times
June 25, 2002
Insane 'Heroes' of Our Time
By Boris Kagarlitsky
The regime has officially recognized two heroes of the second Chechen war: Colonel Yury Budanov and General Vladimir Shamanov. The first wound up on trial for murder, the second as governor of the Ulyanovsk region.
The Military Prosecutor's Office has proven that Budanov was insane at the time, and therefore this hero of Russia should go free. With prosecutors like these there's really not much call for lawyers. The insanity defense shocked even Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov, who promised to have the case reviewed. The Budanov trial not only makes a mockery of the justice system; in its own way it demonstrates the political dead end in which the army and the authorities now find themselves.
Many journalists portrayed Budanov as a monster, a villain and a sadist. But the real drama here is that Budanov is not a monster at all -- he's no different from hundreds of other officers who do what he did in Chechnya every day. He's just a run-of-the-mill colonel.
Kidnapping and murder of civilians are almost a daily occurrence in Chechnya, but no one bears any responsibility for these crimes. Budanov was meant to answer for, or in place of, everyone else.
Budanov admitted his guilt for the murder and let slip that he himself didn't understand why he was fighting in Chechnya, although he had never stopped sincerely considering himself a hero. Dozens of other officers think exactly the same way.
Is Budanov a war criminal? Absolutely. His guilt is borne out in court documents that neither side in the trial disputes. But in that case, Budanov should not stand trial alone. He should be joined by those who unleashed this war, who gave the orders and who sent the colonel to Chechnya. In this case, Budanov's trial would turn into a trial of the system itself.
That's exactly how the nationalists who called for Budanov's release understand the trial. They know perfectly well that the colonel is guilty of kidnapping and murder, but they are nonetheless firm in the belief that he should be vindicated. Not convicted and released under an amnesty, but found innocent and allowed to walk. The court should affirm that the kidnapping and murder of civilians in Chechnya are entirely just and legal acts. Soldiers should be given the right to murder. Chechens and other non-Russians should, in keeping with Nazi classifications, be labeled "subhumans" utterly devoid of rights. But even a Russian court couldn't go that far. It couldn't convict or acquit. The only option left was to turn the trial into a farce.
While Budanov was standing trial, his former commander General Shamanov was elected governor of the Ulyanovsk region. Chalk another one up for the Kremlin: A military hero turned a "red" region "white" and announced market reforms. This was all done in a firm military manner. Shamanov looked like a scaled-down version of Pinochet. Now management of the region has broken down and it's suffering an energy crisis. Residents are blocking the roads, demanding that the electricity they have already paid for be turned back on. The local authorities cite the "difficult legacy" of the previous administration as the source of all their woes. But every new administration has to clean up the mess left by its predecessor. After all, if everything had been in order before, why change leaders?
The energy industry complains that the governor can't control the situation, that he doesn't understand what's going on in the region and that he doesn't answer for his own actions. Shamanov makes announcements that bear no relation whatsoever to reality. The region is up in arms, people are blocking the highways and casualties have already been reported. But the general does nothing.
Unified Energy Systems officials have called for Shamanov's ouster and the introduction of direct presidential rule in the Ulyanovsk region. By law the only way to do that is to declare the head of the regional government unfit to fulfill his duties. But the general's health seems to be just fine. This leaves one alternative: Shamanov can't fulfill his duties due to insanity. UES board member Andrei Trapeznikov recently made a none-too-subtle hint in this direction in a meeting with journalists.
It is an unhappy country that needs heroes, says Bertolt Brecht's Galileo. Putin's Russia, it would seem, goes even further. It not only needs heroes -- its heroes are declared insane.
In this situation it's already too late to change heroes, and it's pointless to put them on trial. The only thing left is to change the system.
Boris Kagarlitsky is a Moscow-based sociologist.
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