The case of the Khachaturian sisters. The court is ready to determine the degree of their father's guilt

The trial of the Khachaturian sisters, who killed their father, is nearing completion. The investigative actions continued from 2018, during which time charges were brought against the murdered man in a separate proceeding — the daughters said they had suffered beatings and sexual violence from their father. The Butyrsky court will sentence him on April 21. What Mikhail Khachaturian is accused of, how the verdict in his case will affect the fate of the sisters, and what versions were put forward by the relatives of the murdered man — in the Izvestia article.

What is Khachaturian accused of?

• Mikhail Khachaturian was charged with torture, sexual violence and coercion to sexual acts (Articles 117, Part 3 of Articles 132 and Article 133 of the Criminal Code) in relation to his daughters— Christening, Angelina and Maria, who were 19, 18 and 17 years old at the time of the accused's death. The criminal case against Khachaturian was initiated posthumously in March 2021, and his daughters were recognized as victims of the case at that time. It is being heard behind closed doors by three judges, and the verdict is scheduled for April 21.

• As the investigation progressed, in May 2022, the charges were tightened in connection with the fact that Mikhail Khachaturian distributed pornographic materials involving his daughters. A new victim has appeared in the case, a friend of Mikhail Khachaturian's daughters, to whom he sent these materials. The defendant's lawyers consider the charges to be unproven, because "there were no biological traces confirming sexual abuse of girls," and the pornographic images, according to them, should be removed from the case due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

• According to investigators, for several years Mikhail Khachaturian beat his daughters, humiliated them and subjected them to physical violence. Psychological, sexual, and psychiatric examinations found that the girls had post-traumatic stress disorder. According to lawyers for Krestina, Angelina and Maria Khachaturian, all three suffered serious harm. Later, an additional charge appeared in Khachaturian's case under Article 111, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Intentional infliction of serious harm to health").

• A criminal case against Mikhail Khachaturian was opened posthumously at the request of his sisters: they do not believe the testimony of his daughters and expect that the investigation will help rehabilitate the deceased relative. The lawyers of Mikhail Khachaturian's daughters also called for the initiation of a criminal case in the hope that the investigation would confirm the girls' accusations against their father and soften the court's position when considering their cases.

The Khachaturian Sisters Case

• The Khachaturian sisters were arrested on August 2, 2018, on charges of murdering their father by prior agreement. The body of 57-year-old Mikhail Khachaturian was found in the entrance of a house on Altufyevsky Highway with multiple stab wounds.

• According to investigators, after another quarrel, as a result of which the father sprayed pepper spray in the daughters' faces, the sisters decided to kill their father. They attacked him with a hammer, a knife and pepper spray. The first stab wounds were inflicted while Mikhail Khachaturian was still sleeping, and the fatal blow overtook him when he ran out onto the stairs after one of the sisters. The girls themselves called the police and an ambulance and confessed to what they had done.

The Khachaturian sisters spoke about the gun threats, bullying, and violence they had been subjected to since their father kicked their mother out of the house. The fact that Khachaturian beat his daughters was known by neighbors who told the press about it, acquaintances and even relatives to whom the girls complained. The guardianship authorities were also aware of the unfavorable situation in the family, because during the year the girls practically did not attend school. At the same time, according to Aurelia Dunduk, the mother of the Khachaturian sisters, despite contacting the police, law enforcement officers did not react to Khachaturian's behavior in any way.

• The case caused a wide public outcry. The girls stayed in jail for less than two months, after which the court changed their measure of restraint to a ban on certain actions: the sisters now live separately, they are forbidden to communicate with each other and with witnesses in the case. The younger of the sisters, Maria, was declared insane at the time of the murder according to the results of the examination. Her case was separated into a separate proceeding.

• After the facts of violence against the girls were confirmed in January 2020, the prosecutor's Office ordered the Investigative Committee to reclassify the charge from murder to necessary defense, but the investigation refused to do so. In 2023, the Khachaturian sisters' cases were returned to the prosecutor's office. The sisters' lawyers expect that Mikhail Khachaturian's confession of child abuse will be one of the proofs of their innocence and will lead to the termination of the case against the girls.

The position of Khachaturian's relatives

• Mikhail Khachaturian's relatives and friends expect that all charges will be dropped from the murdered man, and the girls will receive maximum sentences. The relatives knew that Khachaturian's daughters were being beaten in the family, but they considered it normal and stated that the girls themselves provoked such treatment. Even his own brother, whom his father beat and kicked out of the house with the children's mother, called the sisters "lost" and believed that physical abuse did not make Mikhail Khachaturian a bad person.

• The victim's mother and his sisters believe that the crime was committed for profit: Allegedly, the daughters expected to take over their father's money and property. Khachaturian did not officially work, but he regularly received large sums of money, some of which he gave to his daughters to run the household. Khachaturian's relatives assumed that the girls had spent more than they were supposed to from a bank card, and tried to hide this by committing murder. The investigation checked this version, but did not find a mercenary motive in the actions of the girls.