Mikhail Khachaturyan's body was found on several steps in an apartment block in Moscow in July 2018, with dozens of stab wounds to the chest and neck.
According to investigators and the sisters' lawyers, a few hours before his death, he had returned from a psychiatric clinic, lined up his three daughters to punish them for the messy apartment, sprinkling their faces with chili powder, according to investigators. and sister lawyers. His eldest daughter Krestina, who is asthmatic, had fainted.
It was the night that Krestina, 19, Angelina, 18, and Maria, 17, decided to kill their father. They attacked him with a hammer, a knife and the same can of chili powder he had thrown at them earlier.
Interrogation transcripts, published for the press and verified for CNN by a lawyer, show that the girls tried to inflict wounds on themselves, to make it look as if the father, who was sleeping during the attack, had hit them. with the first knife. They then called the police and the ambulance.
The next day, the three were arrested and confessed to the murder, saying they had endured years of sexual, physical and emotional abuse by their father. Last summer the sisters were indicted on charges of premeditated murder, sparking outrage among activists in Russia who are struggling with a wider problem, such as domestic abuse.
After a lengthy investigation, the sisters' trial begins on Friday in a Moscow courtroom. The prosecution demanded that the sisters not be allowed to participate in public events, that the ban on their internet access and media conversations and with each other be extended for another six months. There have currently been several demonstrations planned in support of them. The issue brought back to the attention of rights groups fighting for the adoption of a law to protect victims of domestic abuse.
The two older sisters, Krestina and Angelina, will be on trial together, while Maria, who was a minor at the time of the murder but turned 18 during the indictment, has been assessed mentally incapable of committing a murder and will be in a another murder trial, according to one of the sisters' lawyers, Aleksey Lispter.
Domestic violence experts, along with the group of people who protect sisters, say that in the absence of proper protection mechanisms and proper legislation, their only solution was to protect themselves or consequently die at the hands of their father.
In text conversations, taken from their father's phone and posted on Facebook by Lipster, Mikhail Khachaturyan appears to have threatened to kill and sexually abuse them and their mother.
“Do t’ju rrah për gjithçka, do t’ju vras”, thotë një mesazh i muajit prill, 2018, ku babai i akuzonte se kanë kryer marrëdhënie seksuale me një shok. “Ju jeni prostituta dhe do të vdisni si si prostituta”. Transkpritet e marrjes në pyetje gjithashtu tregojnë për një pamje të qartë të abuzimit mendor, fizik dhe seksual që datonte të paktën katër vjet para vrasjes.
Ne mendojmë se ato nuk kishin zgjidhje tjetër. Babi i çoi vajzat në një gjendje dëshpëruese. Ato nuk mund të krahasohen sot me njerëz të shëndetshëm, të qetë dhe të ekuilibruar. Vazjat kanë zhvilluar sëmundje të rënda mendore, përfshirë sindromën e abuzimit dhe çregullimin e stresit post-traumatik. Këto janë konfirmuar nga të gjitha ekzaminimet e bëra, tha një prej avokatëve të motrave, Aleksey Parshin.
Që prej verës së kaluar, aktivistët kanë organizuar dhjetëra demonstrata në mbështetje të motrave nën fushatën “Unë nuk doja të vdisja”, duke u bërë thirrje autoriteve që të riklasifikonin çështjen rreth vetëmbrojtjes së motrave. Edhe figura të njohura në Rusi, kanë reaguar në mbrojtje të vajzave.
Një hetim i vitit 2019 nga Media Zona, tha se gati 80% e grave ruse të burgosura për vrasje me paramendim në vitet 2016-2018 po përpiqeshin të mbroheshin nga një dhunues.
In January, the prosecutor's office confirmed allegations that the sisters had suffered "beatings, constant humiliation, threats and abuse, physical and sexual violence" and that they had developed a "defensive reaction". Prosecutors then ordered the Committee of Inquiry to reclassify the case from premeditated murder to necessary self-defense. According to lawyer Parshin, this meant a "conclusion of the criminal investigation".
But in a bizarre comeback, Victor Green, the same prosecutor who initially recommended lowering the case, confirmed in May that charges of premeditated murder would be filed. No explanation was given for the change.
Source: CNN
