Twenty Russian soldiers have been sentenced to life in prison for crimes committed in Chechnya since the start of the year.
Russian judicial sources quoted by the Interfax news agency said the sentences were handed down to defence ministry soldiers and other troops who had committed capital murder.
Russian officials said they were also setting up military courts with civilian tribunals across the republic for trial of future allegations against Russian servicemen, who numbered at some 100,000 troops at the height of the Chechen war.
Russia's lower house of parliament, the Duma, also voted today to set up a military court in Chechnya's devastated capital, Grozny.
Human rights groups have condemned Russia for failing to investigate Chechen reports of rights abuses in the war-torn north Caucasus republic.
A committee of the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly (PACE), a vocal critic of alleged Russian abuses, discussed the war in Chechnya today on the second day of a meeting in the central Russian city of Saratov.
AFP