31 January 2020, 17:57
General Prosecutor's Office treats Khachaturyan sisters' actions as self-defence
The General's Prosecutor Office of Russia refused to bring to court a case against the Khachaturyan sisters accused of killing their father and obliged the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) to re-classify the charge as necessary defence, advocates report. The defenders have also noted that the above resolution "entails the termination of the criminal proceedings."
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that three Khachaturyan sisters from Moscow aged 17-19 were detained on suspicion of killing their father in July 2018. On June 21, 2019, an advocate announced the completion of the investigation. Supporters who held actions in defence of the Khachaturyan sisters claimed the sisters' actions were caused by violence from their father. According to the defence, "the sisters had a clear choice: to save their own lives at the cost of killing their father or to be killed."
Activists repeatedly held actions in support of the Khachaturyan sisters. The actions took place in Armenia and Moscow, as well as in Barcelona, Bonn, Brussels, Berlin, Warsaw, Riga, New York, Helsinki, Munich, Vancouver, Valencia, Kharkov, and Saint Petersburg. The activists demanded to release the girls and take measures against domestic violence.
The General's Prosecutor Office of Russia considered the actions of the Khachaturyan sisters to be the necessary defence and refused to transfer the case to courts, reported Alexei Liptser, an advocate of one of the Khachaturyan sisters.
Aleksei Parshin, another advocate, said that the General Prosecutor's Office of Russia had obliged the ICRF to re-classify the charge from the murder to the necessary defence, "which would entail the termination of the criminal proceedings."
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 31, 2020 at 11:04 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
