Public prosecutor at Budanov trial replaced

The public prosecutor at the trial of military officer Yuri Budanov, accused of killing a young Chechen woman, has been replaced. Judge Viktor Kostin, presiding over the trial, has said that prosecutor Sergei Nazarov "has been dismissed by the defence minister for reasons of health." Nazarov has been replaced with Vladimir Milovanov, aide to Russia's Chief Military Prosecutor.

At the trial, he immediately declared "a change in the prosecution's position on the assessment of the defendant's actions." He referred to an article in the new Code of Criminal Procedure, which entered into force on July 1.

After a discussion of the prosecutor's statement, an interval in the trial was announced.