From Chechnya to California: Responses to Killer Cops

A Russian colonel who was jailed for murdering a Chechen teenager has been shot dead in central Moscow. Yuri Budanov was killed on Friday by an unidentified gunman on Komsomolsky Prospekt, a busy avenue in the capital, state prosecutors said. In 2003 a court upheld his 10-year jail sentence for strangling an 18-year-old girl in war-torn Chechnya in 2000.

But he was released early from jail in January 2009 - a move that angered human rights activists. Russian media say the gunman, wearing a blue jacket and hood, attacked Budanov at about 1230 (0830 GMT), shooting him six times with a pistol, then fled by car. The Mitsubishi Lancer getaway car was later found abandoned and on fire, the reports said. A pistol and silencer were found inside.