Charges Against Russian Sisters Who Killed Abusive Father Dropped

Russian politics and religion converged to decriminalize domestic abuse in 2017, making cases like the Khachaturyans’ disturbingly common. (http://en.kremlin.ru/)

Russian state prosecutors announced on January 31 that they were dropping charges against the Khachaturyan sisters, who murdered their father last July. The three Moscow sisters, aged 17, 18, and 19, were victims of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse from their father. In a widely publicized case that “touched the heart” of many Russians, prosecutors are freeing them, citing self defense.

Until recently, prosecutors planned to charge the women with premeditated murder, a sentence that normally results in up to 20 years in prison. After this week’s deliberations, “the prosecutor’s office said that they acted out of necessary defense,” according to the sisters’ lawyer, Alexei Lipser. 

“The girls saw the assault on their father as the only solution to save their own lives and defend themselves,” said another defense lawyer, Alexei Parsin. The prosecution’s decision to drop the charges rested on an order from the Supreme Court that “necessary self defense” may be extended after the moment of aggression if the victim feels that their life is continuously in danger. 

The outcome of the case has the potential to set a new precedent for victims of abuse in Russia. According to BBC, about 80 percent of Russian female murder convicts killed a domestic abuser in self defense. The trial of the Khachaturyan sisters, followed by several other instances of domestic violence showcased in the Russian media, has prompted change among Russians disturbed by the tolerance of domestic violence.

At the time of the murder, protesters inspired by the Khachaturyan sisters’ story triggered outcry from Muscovites against the endemic of domestic violence “in a country,” according to activist Darea Serenko, “where husbands beat and rape their wives.” Serenko, the leader of the protests, remarked in August that “domestic abuse is a reality of life in Russia." 

Despite the ability of the case to advance domestic abuse laws in Russia, Yulia Gorbunova of Human Rights Watch expressed that there are “serious gaps in Russia’s laws” and that “the lack of protection orders and inadequate police and judicial responses leave women who face even severe physical violence with little or no protection.” According to Gorbunova, domestic violence is seen as a private family matter rather than as a cause for legal intervention.

Lipser made it clear that the prosecutors’ decision to drop charges against the girls was not political. That being said, Lipser admitted that protests might have made a “tangential impact.”  

The investigation will be reopened in February but will no longer be examined through Article 105, the Russian criminal code governing murder trials.