Chechen President-elect Alu Alkhanov on Tuesday hailed news that a Russian army officer convicted in 2003 of abducting and murdering a teenage Chechen girl in 2000 had recalled an appeal for a pardon. Col. Yury Budanov withdrew his appeal after a September 15 decision by the clemency commission of the region where he is serving his 10-year sentence set off a storm of protests in Chechnya. Budanov, who commanded a tank regiment, accused his victim, 17- year-old Elza Kungayeva, of being a rebel sniper. He seized the girl from her home in her village of Tangi in Chechnya and took her to his base, where he questioned and strangled her, after which he ordered his soldiers to bury her. (Interfax)