Killing of abusive father spotlights Russian justice
MOSCOW — One evening last summer, Mikhail Khachaturyan decided that his living room wasn’t tidy enough, so he summoned his three teenage daughters one by one and doused each with pepper spray.
Such violence and abuse was not unusual in the Khachaturyan household, according to court records. But Maria, Angelina and Krestina Khachaturyan decided that they couldn’t take it anymore. They waited until their father fell asleep in his rocking chair and attacked him with a kitchen knife and a hammer. He put up a fight but died within minutes.
The sisters, now 18, 19 and 20 years old, were charged last month with premeditated murder in a case that has drawn outrage and illustrated how the Russian justice system handles domestic violence and sexual abuse cases.
More than 200,000 people have signed an online petition urging prosecutors to drop the murder charges, which could land the sisters in prison for 20 years.
Their supporters have protested outside Russian embassies in more than 20 locations abroad, and a theater has staged a show in solidarity. They had planned a major rally in central Moscow on Saturday but said they had to cancel it, citing a refusal by city hall to provide security for the gathering.
“The Khachaturyan case is quite indicative Aurelia Dunduk, left, and daughter Krestina Khachaturyan attend a court hearing in Moscow. Krestina and two sisters are charged with the premeditated murder of their father after years of abuse, a case that illustrates the Russian justice system’s handling of domestic violence and sexual abuse cases.
of the general situation with domestic violence and how the Russian state responds to this problem,” said Yulia Gorbunova, who wrote an extensive report on domestic violence for
Human Rights Watch last year.
Pressured by conservative family groups, President Vladimir Putin in 2017 signed a law decriminalizing some forms of domestic violence, which has no fixed definition in Russian legislation. Police routinely turn a blind eye to cases of domestic abuse. Preventive measures, such as restraining orders, are either lacking or not in wide use.
Court filings showed that the Khachaturyan sisters were repeatedly beaten and sexually abused by their father, a war veteran. He had kept a stockpile of knives, guns and rifles at home despite having been diagnosed with a neurological disorder. He repeatedly threatened neighbors and family members with violence.
Lawyers for the Khachaturyan sisters say their clients were driven to the edge.
“The first day we met,” Krestina’s attorney, Alexei Liptser, said, “she said she’s better off here, in jail, than living at home the way she had been.”
Going to the police was not an option because the sisters feared that their home life would only get worse. In the year before the attack, the girls attended fewer than two months of classes in total, but the school administration did not interfere.
Prosecutors acknowledge the extraordinarily violent circumstances that pushed the teenagers to kill their father, but insist that the three should be tried for murder. The sisters’ attorneys argue that they were acting in self-defense.
The sisters have been released on bail and are reportedly in good spirits. “At least, no one is beating them up,” Liptser said.