Col. Yury Budanov, accused of killing an 18-year-old Chechen woman, Elza Kungayeva, has been declared insane.

Instead of a prison cell, it is recommended he face "compulsory treatment" for psychiatric disorders.

Apparently, some would have us believe, this trained military officer simply lost control of himself and just happened to throttle a young woman to death in a fit of passion – and the court gave this interpretation of events its stamp of approval.

Such a miscarriage of justice is unconscionable. Moreover, it is a slap in the face, not only to the woman's memory and family, or even only to the Chechen people, but to anyone in Russia who wants anything to do with justice and impartial application of the law.

Budanov was a hero to many hawks in Russia even before the murder, when he was shown firing artillery rounds on camera as a New Year greeting to Chechen rebels.

One can understand the rage of a large number of people in Russia against Chechen bandits, kidnappers and slave traders who, despite the nice words afforded them in the Western press, are not in any way justifiable or admirable.

However, the reprehensible behavior of its enemy can never in any way excuse the Russian military's degeneration to similar levels of savagery.

The horrors the Japanese visited upon China, to draw a comparison, do not in any way excuse Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Budanov is in no way, shape or form a hero.

According to Budanov's defense, he went insane when he was informed that the woman was a sniper, so he got into a military vehicle, took an armed escort, arrested her, personally questioned her and – still suffering from a delirious stroke of madness – killed her.

Russian psychiatry, which has historically had a far-from-sterling reputation, has blemished itself once again, perhaps forever.

If anger is equivalent to insanity, one would have to conclude that a good part of the Russian political establishment must be positively certifiable.

There have been many angry outbursts from people at the top against Chechen terrorists, and one shudders to think what, given the opportunity, they would do to young Chechen women.

The military establishment stood firmly besides Budanov, and it is their day of shame as well.

How can these people look in the eyes of their daughters and wives?

Claims that Kungayeva was raped – possibly post-mortem – were never considered by the court.

However, even if they had been, there is no doubt that the duly appointed "psychiatrists" – "psychiatrists" in the strictly Soviet sense of the term – would have found some excusable explanation for that as well.

Being angry, apparently, is a good enough excuse for anything these days.

The trial– and the expected acquittal – are a dark blot on the face of modern Russia.

Russia has been trying very hard, albeit in a clumsy way, to come to terms with its uncivil past.

But how can the country face up to the historical legacy of murder, pogroms and repression if the "respectable" judicial and psychiatric community, people who are supposed to be the guardians of society and its health, allows a colonel to get away with the murder of an 18-year-old woman?

That President Vladimir Putin ordered that "cleansing operations" in Chechnya must become more civilized and less demoralizing (and, perhaps, less lethal) for the population was very welcome and should be applauded. But if Budanov can kill and rape and then blithely say, "I was just blowing off steam," what value do Putin's fine words have in the real world?