Family filth: Mikhail Khachaturian found guilty of abusing his daughters

The Butyrsky District Court of Moscow found Mikhail Khachaturian, who was killed seven years ago, guilty of torturing and sexually assaulting his three daughters. The Khachaturian sisters' lawyers have already stated that now the investigation has grounds to reclassify the article attributed to the girls as murder in connection with the necessary defense. If this happens, the maximum punishment for the sisters who killed their father could be up to two years in prison, whereas now they face up to 20 years, lawyers say. However, Mikhail Khachaturian's relatives have already stated that they intend to appeal the court's decision. The details of the high—profile case are in the Izvestia material.

What was Mikhail Khachaturian posthumously convicted for?

On April 21, the Butyrsky District Court of Moscow handed down a verdict against Mikhail Khachaturian. In 2018, his own daughters killed him, but as part of this process, it was not this crime that was considered, but the actions of the man himself that could have led to the murder — the court found Khachaturian guilty of causing serious harm to health and sexually abusing three daughters.

In July 2018, the body of 57-year-old Mikhail Khachaturian with several dozen stab wounds was found in the entrance of a house on Altufyevsky Highway in Moscow. The daughters of the deceased were arrested on suspicion of murder: 19-year-old Christina, 18-year-old Angelina and 17-year-old Maria. During the interrogation, they immediately admitted their guilt.

During the investigation, the sisters said that their father had bullied and raped them for many years. Psychiatric examination conducted at the Institute. Serbsky found that the girls suffered from abuse syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Investigative Committee accused Krestina and Angelina of premeditated murder committed by a group of people by prior agreement (Article 105 of the Criminal Code). The case of the younger Maria was considered separately, as she was declared insane.

The investigation revealed that on the day of his death, Mikhail Khachaturian returned home after treatment at a neuropsychiatric center. At home, he caused a scandal for his daughters due to overspending on a bank card and an uncleaned apartment. In the evening of the same day, when the father fell asleep in an armchair, the daughters attacked him — they took turns stabbing their father with a hunting knife and a hammer.

Mikhail Khachaturian woke up and tried to fight back, his eldest daughter sprayed pepper spray in his face. The man ran into the entrance. There, Angelina dealt the final blow, hitting her father in the heart. After that, the girls tried to stage an attack on themselves — they stabbed themselves and called the police and an ambulance.

At first, the court sent the girls to jail, but two months later it changed the measure of restraint to a milder one — house arrest with a ban on certain actions. They were forbidden to leave the house after 21:00, to communicate with each other and the rest of the participants in the case.

The sister of the deceased, Naira Khachaturian, and her husband, Genadik Musayelyan, filed a complaint against the release of the girls from jail. In February 2019, the mother of the deceased discharged her granddaughter Christina Khachaturian from her apartment through the court. Relatives, speaking on federal TV channels, accused the sisters of premeditated murder for mercenary motives.

In June 2019, the sisters were finally charged under the article on the murder of a group of people by prior agreement. At the same time, the documents of the prosecutor's office indicated that the actions of the girls were provoked by their father.

In March 2021, a criminal case was posthumously opened against Khachaturian himself. Initially, the investigation refused to initiate proceedings in connection with Khachaturian's death. However, in 2020, the sisters of the deceased agreed to this, hoping for his rehabilitation. Mikhail Khachaturian's daughters were officially recognized as victims in this case. The forensic medical examination confirmed that he had caused serious harm to the health of his daughters by his actions. It was in this case that the Butyrsky District Court of Moscow was sentenced on April 21.

What is the essence of the case against Mikhail Khachaturian?

Initially, Khachaturian was charged with "torture," "violent acts of a sexual nature," as well as "coercion to acts of a sexual nature." According to the inspection materials, since the fall of 2014 and throughout the time when the girls' mother Aurelia was not living with them, Khachaturian beat his daughters, humiliated them and sexually abused them.

The investigation lasted almost a year and a half — in July 2022, the Investigative Committee sent the case to the Prosecutor General's Office for approval of the indictment. However, they considered that the investigation had missed several important points: in particular, driving one of the daughters to attempt suicide, as well as intentionally causing serious harm to all of them.

The first hearings in the father's case began in 2023, behind closed doors. The examination revealed that Mikhail Khachaturian had a sexual desire disorder, but there is no evidence of such a diagnosis in the medical documents requested by the investigation.

Mikhail Khachaturian's sisters and other relatives continued to insist on his innocence.

"The girls committed a crime. They denigrate a man who was brutally murdered. We don't have a goal to imprison them for 15-20 years, we want to defend his honor and dignity," Mikhail Khachaturian's son—in-law Arsen Khachaturian told Izvestia.

What will happen to the Khachaturian sisters' case

Angelina Khachaturian's lawyer Marie Davtyan recalled that the sisters are still accused in the murder of their father.

— If the ruling in the case [against] their father comes into force, then we will raise the issue of recognizing the necessary defense and ending the case against the sisters. Earlier, the investigation stated that it has not been proven that Khachaturian committed all these actions against them, but thanks to today's court decision, this issue is closed," she told Izvestia.

Mari Davtyan said that now a preventive measure is in effect against the girls in the form of a ban on certain actions: they are forbidden to communicate with the media and witnesses in the case.

— And so they live a normal life — they study, they work, — said Marie Davtyan.

Alexey Parshin, another lawyer for the sisters, said that the sisters' defense was fully satisfied with the Butyrsky court's decision.

"We are satisfied, we have been working towards this for six and a half years,— he said immediately after the court hearing. — Thanks to the press, thanks to the media for covering this process, and thanks to public control. Now the girls will have another proof of their innocence — Khachaturian's crimes have been proven and established. Now, from a legal point of view, he can be called a criminal who has been committing crimes against his children for many years.

Lawyer Yaroslav Pakulin, who also represents the interests of the Khachaturian sisters, noted that "now no one will have any doubt that the girls' reaction was a reaction to the encroachments on the part of their father."

"He threatened their lives, their health, and their sexual integrity, so the necessary defense can already be considered an established fact,— he stressed. — Now, as we think, the Investigative Committee will make a decision both on the qualification of the crime and on the fate of the criminal case itself. The decision may lead to the reclassification of the case, the recognition of the girls as innocent and their release from criminal liability, as their actions were necessary self-defense.

He noted that the Butyrsky court's decision has yet to come into force.

— There were those who welcomed this decision, but there are also those who are unhappy with it. An appeal by Mikhail Khachaturian's defense to the Moscow City Court is inevitable, but we must go this way," Yaroslav Pakulin said.

Mikhail Khachaturian's sister Naira told Izvestia that she would appeal the verdict and seek her brother's posthumous acquittal.

"He was just accused to avoid a terrible punishment," she said. — At the court hearing, the sisters behaved impudently and looked pleased. We have already suffered, let society continue to think about how to release such murderers.

Precedent-setting decision on domestic violence cases

The case of being found guilty posthumously is an atypical example of the application of Russian criminal procedure legislation, said Daniil Chernykh—Aipov, a member of the Council of the Moscow regional branch of the Russian Bar Association, deputy chairman of the Sulim and Partners Bar Association.

"In accordance with Article 24 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, the death of a suspect or accused is considered non—rehabilitating grounds for termination of a criminal case," he recalled. — Usually in such cases, the proceedings are simply terminated without making a final decision on the guilt or innocence of the person.

However, Russian legislation provides for the possibility of continuing criminal proceedings even after the death of the accused, if this is necessary for the rehabilitation of the deceased or at the insistence of his relatives.

"In Khachaturian's case, the initiators of the posthumous investigation were his sisters, who pursued the opposite goal — to prove their brother's innocence," the lawyer noted. — But the result was exactly the opposite. Such a court decision is likely to have a significant impact on the further consideration of the criminal case of the Khachaturian sisters themselves.

According to him, this decision forms a so—called prejudicial fact - that is, a circumstance established by a judicial act that has entered into legal force and does not require repeated proof when considering another case.

"The court's recognition that the Khachaturian sisters' father systematically subjected them to physical, psychological and sexual abuse creates a sufficient evidentiary basis for further changing the qualification of the sisters' actions from "murder by prior agreement" to "murder in excess of the limits of necessary defense" or even "causing death in a state of passion," Daniil Chernykh pointed out.- Aipov.

If the cases are retrained, the maximum penalty for the sisters may be reduced from 20 years in prison to two years for exceeding the limits of necessary defense.

Partner of the Pen Bar Association & Ekaterina Tyagai emphasized that the verdict in the case of the Khachaturian sisters' father could in many ways become a turning point in the development of Russian law enforcement practice in cases of domestic violence. According to her, it is about recognizing the legality and justice of the concept of necessary defense in a situation of systematic domestic violence.

"It is extremely rare for victims of domestic violence to not only defend themselves, but also to prove the fact of violence, especially in cases where the aggressor is not alive and direct protection is no longer possible," the expert said. — In this context, the court's decision can be considered the most important.: It opens up the possibility of recognizing the legitimacy of defensive actions of victims who were in a state of constant threat. This is an important step towards the humanization of justice.

After such a verdict, as Ekaterina Tyagai stated, judicial practice will develop towards a more subtle, individualized approach to such cases. This, in turn, presupposes the recognition of the specifics of domestic violence as a long-term, systemic and often hidden process that cannot always be fixed in the moment.

"It is important that the competent authorities as a whole learn how to respond to signals of violence in a timely manner — before irreversible events occur," she added. — Systematic work is needed by all participants — not only law enforcement agencies, but also social institutions: schools, medical institutions, family environment — to prevent and prevent domestic violence. This is especially true in cases where minors become victims.

The Khachaturian sisters' case, according to the expert, raises a fundamental question: what legal instruments can and should be developed and implemented for timely detection, prevention and effective response to domestic violence. It not only sets a precedent, but also draws the attention of society, law enforcement agencies and legislators to the need for a systematic approach to protecting the most vulnerable categories of citizens, Ekaterina Tyagai added.