Elza Kungayeva (also known as Kheda Kungayeva, alternatively spelled Kungaeva; 1982 – 27 March 2000) was an 18-year-old Chechen woman abducted, beaten, murdered, and allegedly raped by Russian Army Colonel Yuri Budanov during the Second Chechen War.[1]
On March 27, 2000, Elza Kungayeva was forcibly taken from her home in Chechnya, abused and murdered.[2] On February 28, 2001, the Rostov District Military Court began the trial of Col. Yuri Budanov for Kungayeva's murder. It was one of the first cases in which Russian authorities promptly and publicly acknowledged a war crime perpetrated by Russian federal forces against civilians in Chechnya.