A SICK dad who was killed by his three daughters after he abused them for years has posthumously been found guilty of torturing them.
The three sisters, , could now be acquitted and allowed to walk free.
A found Mikhail Khachaturyan, 57, , intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm, and production of pornography involving them.
His daughters, Krestina, Angelina and Maria Khachaturyan – now in their 20s – admitted to killing the “tyrant”;.
All three alleged that they faced “systematic torture”; at his hands including rapes and beatings.
The high-profile case saw investigators testify the sisters were repeatedly tortured, sexually abused and raped – sparking outcry from Russian lawyers and activists.
But seven years after Mikhail was killed with his own hunting rifle, a Russian court found the dad guilty of all the charges pressed against him in a victory for the daughters.
Their legal teams hope the murder cases against them will now be dismissed or that they will be acquitted with their actions recognised as self-defence.
Evidence presented in court included a post-mortem analysis that concluded the father was a child sex attacker with “a tendency to aggression”; who had “special sexual preferences aimed at his own daughters”;.
He had made repeated death threats to the girls and said he would kill them, according to the report from the Serbsky Institute of Psychological, Psychiatric and Medical Examinations.
The report found the abusive father manipulated his daughters with threats, violence, humiliation, as well as used “beatings, mocking them, and physical and sexual abuse”;.
He also allegedly made pornographic videos involving his daughters, which he posted on the internet.
Mari Davtyan, lawyer of Angelina, said: “The examinations confirmed the father's violence against his daughters...
“The experts found that each of the girls since 2014 suffered from abuse syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder – all of these conditions have a direct causal relationship to Khachaturian's actions.”;
Defence lawyers had pressed for the murder allegations to be dropped against all the sisters or mitigated by re-categorising the case as causing death by “self-defence”;.
Ms Davtyan said that he had shot at the girls using a non-lethal gun, which gave them reason to fear for their lives since he also owned more powerful weapons.
She added: “They had no shadow of doubt that he would shoot – first of all because he had done it.
“He shot at the girls just for fun. He checked his traumatic gun by shooting into the leg of his daughter just for a joke.
Another lawyer Alexei Parshin said: “We are waiting for further actions and decisions from the [Russian] Investigative Committee regarding the fate of the girls.”;
Anna Rivina, director of an anti-domestic violence organisation and a human rights activist, said: “We live in a country where it is easier for a woman to die than to try to protect herself.”;
“I would like very much to hope that the Khachaturyan sisters' case can be used to show the absurdity of law enforcement and, perhaps, even change the judicial practice, but, to be honest, there is little hope left.
“Self-defence is considered only if you are already specifically targeted with an axe, and in no case can you defend yourself with something more terrible than an axe.”;
Evidence reported from the indicates the father told one of his “terrified”; daughters: “You will take the place of your mother.
“I will marry you and you will give birth to my baby.”;
Meanwhile, other family members have accused the sisters of lying about their father’s sexual abuse and seeking his money by killing him.
Vowing to appeal the court's latest verdict, the dead man’s sister, Naira Khachaturyan, said: “We have already suffered.
“Now it's for the society to decide whether to believe these murderers.”;
