“Girls are waiting for justice”: lawyers for the Khachaturian sisters told RT about preparations for a new trial in the case

Investigation completed

Mikhail Khachaturyan was killed on the evening of July 27, 2018 near his apartment on Altufievskoye Highway in Moscow.

On the body of a 57-year-old man, experts found many wounds from a hammer and a hunting knife from his personal collection of weapons.

Investigators found out that the man was being treated in a psycho-neurological dispensary.

In addition, for a long time he locked his three daughters at home - Krestina, Angelina and Maria.

According to neighbors, the sisters often could not even go to school, and their father forbade them to see their relatives.

The girls' mother, Aurelia Dunduk, and eldest son Sergei, according to neighbors, were also regularly beaten by Mikhail Khachaturian and eventually kicked out of the house.

The sisters pleaded guilty to the murder.

The youngest, Maria (underage at the time of the murder), was declared insane by the court, and all three girls were victims in the case after the facts of violence by the father were proven.

Examinations confirmed that Mikhail Khachaturyan repeatedly beat his daughters, sprayed pepper spray in their faces, threatened them with weapons and raped them, in connection with which the lawyers insist that the actions of Angelina, Krestina and Maria were necessary self-defense.

RT spoke with the lawyers of the Khachaturian sisters - Alexei Parshin, Marie Davtyan and Alexei Liptser, to learn about preparations for a new trial.

“The role of the victims is unusual”

- How many criminal articles are there in the case of the Khachaturian sisters?

What will the new allegations do?

Alexey Liptser: 

Nothing has changed with regard to the girls: they are charged with murder by prior conspiracy, although we insisted on the necessary self-defense.

There are four articles regarding the late Mikhail: torture and acts of a sexual nature against daughters, as well as the illegal production and trafficking of pornographic materials (without the participation of sisters).

Marie Davtyan: 

If Mikhail is found guilty, the fact that there was a threat to life and health will be legally established and the girls committed a crime, defending themselves from systematic violence against them and from a threat to their life and health.

This means that we will have even more grounds to demand that the criminal case against the sisters be dropped.

Alexey Parshin: 

In fact, the parties have now switched roles.

The girls are the victims, and the late Mikhail is the accused party.

Of course, the recognition by the court of Mikhail Khachaturian as guilty will be another weighty proof of the girls' innocence and an argument for stopping their criminal prosecution.

And if earlier our petitions to change the measure of restraint for the sisters to a softer one - a written undertaking not to leave the country, for example - were rejected, now with a high degree of probability our petition will be granted.

My colleagues and I have already discussed this and in the near future we will apply for a change in the measure of restraint. 

- When will the trial in the case of Mikhail Khachaturian begin?

How will it affect the sisters' case?

M.D.: 

As far as I understand, now the representatives of Mikhail Khachaturian have serious problems with getting acquainted with the case materials.

Because the case was initially initiated with their consent, but when they saw that it was very real to reveal a number of serious crimes committed by Mikhail Khachaturian, they ceased to actively participate in this process.

We have already familiarized ourselves with the materials of the case, now it is their turn.

Then the prosecutor's office will receive the case, and only then - the court.

A. L .: 

Psycholinguistic examination is not ready, it is reported that the study of the correspondence of the sisters will take some time.

A psychiatric examination of the case has already been carried out, the experts checked the sanity of both the Khachaturian sisters and their father posthumously.

Thanks to the results of the sisters, they were once recognized as victims.

How are the sisters doing now?

M.D.: 

They still have a ban on certain activities, but there is an opportunity to study and work.

Girls are now in the role of victims, which is very unusual for them: they are used to defending themselves, explaining why they acted this way and not otherwise.

And now, after recognizing them as victims, they have the opportunity to tell the whole story from beginning to end, all in detail.

On the one hand, this is important, because (my personal opinion) every such crime should be investigated, regardless of whether the person is alive or dead.

For the victims.

The girls are waiting for a fair trial.

They are waiting for justice, and they have a right to it, given the conditions in which they lived.

The more we investigate all this, the more difficult it is for them to get out of traumatic disorders.

The psyche of any normal person in such cases works towards oblivion.

And they have to keep everything in their heads all the time.

It turns out that we are forced to immerse girls in this environment again and again.

But they are doing very well, I am proud of them.

To endure four years of constant questioning and interrogation is worth a lot.