The case of the three sisters who killed their father after years of abuse and who shocks Russia

The investigators confirmed that the girls' father had physically and psychologically abused them for years.

The sisters who have been charged with murder and the trial they face have become one of the most controversial topics of debate in Russia. In fact, more than 300,000 people signed a petition demanding their release.

What happened on the night of the crime?

On the night of July 27, 2018, 57-year-old Mikhail Khachaturyan summoned Krestina, Angelina and Maria, minors at the time, one by one in their room. He reprimanded them for not cleaning the apartment properly and sprinkled them with pepper spray on his face.

Domestic abuse

The case quickly became famous in Russia. Human rights defenders claimed that the sisters were not criminals but victims because they had no way to get help and protection of their violent father.

However, no law protects victims of domestic violence in Russia. Based on the changes to the law in 2017, a criminal who first strikes a family member but does not cause injury requiring admission to the hospital faces a fine or two weeks at most. of detention

In Russia, the police generally consider domestic violence a "family problem", providing little or no help. The mother of the sisters, who was also beaten and abused by Khachaturyan, asked for help from the police years ago.

The same thing did the family neighbors, who were very afraid of him. But we do not know if the police participated in these calls. At the time of the murder, the girls' mother did not live with them.

In addition, Khachaturyan had forbidden her daughters from contacting her. According to psychiatric badessments, girls lived isolated and suffered post-traumatic stress.

What did the research discover?

The case of the Khachaturyan sisters has progressed slowly. They are no longer in police custody, but they have been subjected to a number of restrictions: they can not talk to journalists or one to the other. Prosecutors claim that the killing of Khachaturyan was premeditated because he slept and the sisters coordinated the attack and stole the knife that morning. The reason was revenge, they argue.

If they are convicted of this charge, the sisters risk a 20-year sentence of imprisonment. Angelina was holding the hammer, Maria the hunting knife and Krestina the pepper spray.

However, the sisters' lawyers say that the killing was in fact a legitimate defense. In fact, the Russian penal code allows self-defense not only in case of immediate aggression, but also in case of "continuing crime", such as an abduction where the victim is tortured.

The defense insists that the sisters have been victims of a "continuing crime" and that they must therefore be released. The sisters' lawyers are waiting for the case to be closed, as the investigation has confirmed the violence committed by Khachaturyan since 2014.

Human rights activists and many citizens now want the law to be changed and that measures such as state-funded shelters, prohibition orders and courses to fight against the abusive behavior of the attackers.

What is the extent of domestic violence in Russia? There is no concrete data on the number of women victims of domestic violence in Russia, but only estimates, but according to human rights defenders, it could be 39, one in four families.

Several other shocking cases made the headlines, including Margarita Gracheva, whose husband, mad with jealousy, cut his hands with an ax. "My husband cut my hands with an ax"

Some experts say that up to 80% of women detained in Russian prisons for murder are due to the fact that they have killed someone who badaulted them in their own country in self-defense. These days, we have also witnessed a violent reaction against Khachaturya's sisters among the most conservative layers of Russian society.

An badociation called Men's State, which cites "patriarchy" and "nationalism" as its two core values ​​and has nearly 150,000 members on social networks, organized a campaign called "Murderers behind bars" . They insisted that the sisters not be released.

Daria Serenko, a feminist and a Moscow activist who helped organize a three-day support rally in June, said the main purpose of public events is to keep the story on top and give everyone the ability to speak with confidence.

"Domestic abuse is a fact of everyday life in Russia – we can ignore it, but it affects our lives even though we have never had to personally experience it," she said. declared.

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