During preliminary hearings, the Butyrsky Court of Moscow decided to extend the measure of restraint for the youngest of the Khachaturian sisters in the form of a ban on certain actions. This was announced on August 10 by the lawyer of the injured party, Yulia Nitchenko.
“The measure of restraint in the form of a ban on certain actions for the younger sister was extended even at preliminary hearings. The court also additionally prohibited her, like her older sisters, from participating in public events, ”she said to TASS.
Earlier, on August 3, it became known that the case of the two older sisters of Khachaturian, accused of killing their father, will be considered by a jury.
On July 13, it was reported that compulsory medical measures would be applied against the younger sister, Maria Khachaturyan. At the time of the crime, according to the expert opinion, she was insane and could not answer for her actions. Now she faces compulsory treatment in a mental hospital.
On May 13, investigators refused to re-qualify the Khachaturian sisters’ case as a necessary defense.
The Khachaturian sisters in July 2018 (they were then 17, 18 and 19 years old) committed the murder of their 57-year-old father for sexual abuse.
The girls were arrested on August 2, 2018 and charged with murder by prior conspiracy (clause “g”, part 2 of article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In mid-June 2019, they were finally charged.
The high-profile murder was committed on July 27, 2018. According to the investigation, three Khachaturian sisters stabbed their father to death in their apartment on the Altufevskoe highway in Moscow. The detainees were placed in a pre-trial detention center, then, in conditions of public outcry, the measure of restraint was softened to “a ban on the commission of certain actions,” and subsequently the sisters were released from electronic bracelets.
The investigation recognized the father’s abuse of the girls, but left the strictest qualifications, regarding these facts only as a mitigating circumstance. The Prosecutor General’s Office, on the second attempt, nevertheless approved the indictment.