The Mirror, UK
Russian sisters who killed 'mafia boss' dad are accused of making up story about his 'years of sexual abuse'
Mikhail Khachaturyan, 57, was attacked by his daughters Kristina, 19, Angelina, 18 and Maria, 17, at their Moscow home
By Will Stewart
Three Russian sisters charged with the murder of their 'mafia boss' dad have been accused of making up a story about 'years of sexual abuse'.
Mikhail Khachaturyan, 57, was attacked by his daughters Kristina, 19, Angelina, 18 and Maria, 17, who confessed to jointly killing him.
He was found with 36 stab wounds and ten hammer blowsto the head in the block of flats where the family lived in Moscow, Russia.
A Moscow court has now refused to free the teenagers from detention despite their claims they acted in self-defence against a monster father who allegedly raped at least two of the girls.
Currently they are accused of acting as a gang in a premeditated murder with a sentence of between eight and 20 years – but a formal decision on custody is expected within 72 hours.
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A video shows Angelina in a Moscow court cage during a custody hearing as distressed friends look on.
Friends of the sisters claim that their father sexually attacked her on 21 July, less than a week before the girls knifed him to death.
She has also alleged that he raped her – then aged 14 – in a hotel in Israel in four years ago.
Two years later the sisters claim he sexually attacked Kristina who then tried and failed to take her own life.
He was accused of being a drug dealer, setting up web cameras in the family home to monitor the girls – and forcing them to parade naked in front of him.
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At the same time he was seen by friends as a "devout" Christian – a video shows him bathing in the River Jordan.
A close female family member has anonymously disputed the sisters' account, while a lawyer acting for the dead man – who has himself been branded a mafia king with friends in high places in Russia – claimed the version of his daughters that they were sexually abused was incorrect.
George Chuguashvili said: "He was a strict father. Perhaps he did not meet modern requirements, maybe even a tyrant.
"But he never used violence against his children. It's all fiction for the defence."
The relative said: "Mikhail was strict, but a very kind and good person. Everyone respected and loved him.
"He did a lot of good for his daughters. They killed a sleeping man….. I do not know how to name such daughters…"
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A family friend called Bruce Khlebnikov said he saw the crime scene and the family flat was "covered in blood".
"After he was killed, a crowd of people gathered at his house – friends, acquaintances, relatives," he said, describing Khachaturyan, an ethnic Armenian, as a "holy man".
"Everyone was crying. No one could believe that the murder was committed with particular cruelty by his own daughters."
Khlebnikov, formerly known as the "strongest boy in the world", claimed: "He loved his daughters so much, he was always talking about them.
"And how he spoiled them, you cannot even imagine. All that the golden youth could have – these girls had."
He was poised to buy a car for his eldest daughter. He did not spare money for them on their belongings and trinkets.
"His girls wore the most fashionable things, he bought them new iPhones, and they had all the gadgets they wanted.
"They did not know the word 'refusal'."
But he accused the sisters of not doing anything at home – "they lived for their own pleasure" – after their mother left home.
He accused the teenagers of "provoking" their father who wanted them to grow up as "decent" women.
He operated an 8pm curfew and tried to stop them meeting young men, he admitted.
Neighbour Varvara Sibirskaya said: "He forced his daughters to be naked at home, to sing and dance for him. He also drugged them….
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"He beat them, not just with hands, but with a belt, and iron rods. He tied them and burned the with iron."
Another local said: "Any woman to him was like a red rag to a bull. He yelled at them every single day in obscene words."
When they had birthdays, he invited his friends, not theirs.
A friend of the daughers, called Irina, said the three "constantly hid bruises on their bodies" and that their father treated them like "servants".