(L-R) Angelina, Krestina and Maria Khachaturyan face murder charges. Photos / AP
(L-R) Angelina, Krestina and Maria Khachaturyan face murder charges. Photos / AP
WARNING: Grapic content
A chilling video has been released of three Russian sisters confessing to the murder of their father, who had allegedly been sexually and physically abusing them for years.
Krestina, Angelina and Maria, who were aged 19,18 and 17 at the time, are facing murder charges after stabbing their father Mikhail Khachaturyan, 57, in July 2018.
The teenagers claim Mikhail, who has been described as a Russian "mob boss", regularly beat and sexually abused them, made them eat dog hair from the floor and attacked them with pepper spray as a punishment.
The teens admitted to killing their father in his apartment block in Altufyevo, a suburb north of Moscow, but they claim they acted in self-defence, fearing one sister was going to die at the hands of their father.
A video of their confession, which was released by relatives who don't believe their accusations, shows the girls admit to killing their father while he resting in an armchair.
In the police video at the family flat where the murder took place, Maria pointed out to officers where their father was sitting at the time of the attack.
"He was sitting in the armchair in that corner," she said.
"Me and Angelina approached him from the back, she had a hammer and I had a knife."
Angelina said she was preparing food for him when they decided to take action.
"We said let's try and take a risk," she said.
"And we asked our eldest sister, so she helped us and sprayed pepper spray.
Armed with a knife and a hammer, Maria and Angelina approached their sleeping father from behind.
"I was on the left, Maria on the right. She first stabbed him with the knife, then he woke up," Angelina said.
"Then I hit him with the hammer. Twice."
Aurelia (right), the mother of the Khachaturyan sisters charged with the murder of their father, and her lawyer ahead of a hearing outside Moscow's Ostankinsky District Court. Photo / Getty Images
At this point the girls said he started pulling himself up off the chair asking "What's going on?"
A detective asked: "He did not understand what is going on?", to which Angelina agreed.
In the leaked audio of an emergency call Maria made after the killing, she can be heard telling the operator Mikhail was under the influence of drugs when he was killed.
"He has sedative pills, but he took a lot of them," she said.
In the call Maria pretended to be one of her elder sisters and claimed their father tried to attack them with a knife.
"And which of you stabbed him?" the emergency operator asked.
"Me," Maria responded through tears.
The teens previously claimed the night they killed their father, Krestina, who suffers from asthma, collapsed and Mikhail took her to her bathroom, poured vodka on her and undressed her.
During the attack, Angelina and Maria said they feared their sister could die and began attacking their father, reportedly with a hunting knife they had taken from his car earlier that day and a hammer.
As they struggled with their father, the fight spilt from the apartment onto the street, before Angelina stabbed her father through the heart.
Mikhail then collapsed, and Maria called an ambulance. By the time paramedics arrived he had died. Mikhail's body was found with dozens of stab wounds in the lift of his apartment block where the family lived.
Court filings showed that the Khachaturyan sisters were repeatedly beaten by their father, a war veteran, and sexually abused.
He had kept a stockpile of knifes, guns and rifles at home despite having been diagnosed with a neurological disorder, and was known to shoot indoors. He repeatedly threatened neighbours and family with violence.
The Khachaturyan sisters' lawyers say the girls were driven to the edge and are calling for the murder charges to be dropped.
Krestina and Angelina are facing between eight and 20 years in prison.
The youngest sister, Maria, who is now 18, will not face jail after the court ruled she did not understand her actions when she was part of the alleged "group" conspiracy.
