© Moscow City Court/TASSTwo of the three sisters accused of killing their father, Angelina Khachaturyan (front) and Krestina Khachaturyan (back), at a court hearing in Moscow.
Russian prosecutors have confirmed murder charges against three sisters accused of killing their abusive father in 2018, the sisters' defense team says, reversing their earlier calls for charges to be dropped and dealing a blow to women's rights activists who see the case as a litmus test for Russia's approach to domestic violence.
Attorney Aleksei Liptser, a member of the defense team, told RFE/RL on July 13 that the indictment had been finalized and the case would now go to trial.
In July 2018, investigators say, Krestina, Angelina, and Maria Khachaturyan -- then 19, 18, and 17 years old, respectively --
killed their father, Mikhail Khachaturyan, at their home in Moscow's outskirts. Materials gathered by investigators included substantial evidence of protracted sexual and physical abuse by Khachaturyan against his daughters.
Comment: The coronavirus hysteria has been revealing just how far some will go against their fellow man: