ROSTOV-ON-DON - A Russian colonel on Friday was found guilty of kidnapping and murdering a Chechen woman and sentenced to 10 years in a maximum security prison.

Col. Yuri Budanov had admitted strangling Heda Kungayeva, 18, but said he did it in a fit of rage during an interrogation. In December, a court ruled that Budanov was temporarily insane at the time of the 2000 killing and was not criminally responsible.

However, the Supreme Court overturned that decision and ordered a new trial.

Budanov's trial has been widely watched throughout Russia for a signal into how the military plans to deal with reports of abuses in Chechnya, which have undermined the Kremlin's efforts to build trust in the war-ravaged republic.

The military court in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don declared Friday that Budanov was sane at the time of the killing and ordered the prison term along with stripping him of his military rank and his Order of Courage.

Judge Vladimir Bukreyev said he based his decision on a new psychiatric report delivered to the court last month that concluded Budanov was sane but in a "highly agitated state" at the time of the attack.

The judge also rejected defense claims that Budanov thought Kungayeva was a sniper. Kungayeva's family has said that she was dragged from her home in a Chechen village, raped and murdered during a drunken rampage by soldiers.

Budanov's 10-year sentence will include the approximately three years that he has already spent in custody. The court also ordered him to pay more than 500,000 rubles (US$16,500) to Kungayeva's family for moral damages.

A lawyer for the Chechen woman's family had asked the court to sentence the officer to 15 years and 10 days in prison, and the prosecution had asked for 12 years.

Prosecutor Vladimir Milovanov said he was satisfied with the sentence, even though it was less than he had requested. "I think it was legal, well-grounded and objective," he said.

Budanov's lawyer Alexei Dulimov called the verdict "not legal and not fair" and said he would appeal. No representatives of the victim's family attended the sentencing.

Budanov had strongly objected to his second trial. He often was escorted out of the courtroom due to outbursts and routinely stuffed cotton balls in his ears during proceedings. Russia's Interfax news agency reported Friday that Budanov removed the cotton balls from his ears shortly before the sentencing, which he listened to in silence.

After the sentence was announced, Budanov was allowed to speak briefly with his wife, Svetlana, and sister, who both left the courtroom in tears.

Supporters from Russia National Unity ultranationalist group stood outside the court to demonstrate moral support for Budanov.