Evil dad killed by teen daughters he 'sexually assaulted
and made dig their own graves'
A father killed by his three teenage daughters allegedly sexually abused them to make pornography and separately forced them to "dig their own graves," new evidence has claimed.
Alleged "evil paedophile" Mikhail Khachaturyan, 57, was stabbed to death in Moscow with his own hunting knife in 2018 by a trio of teens all accused of murder.
The three sisters could face years in jail, with a Russian court now deciding whether sisters Krestina, Angelina and Maria Khachaturyan will be exonerated in the long-running case.
The trio were 19, 18 and 17 at the time of the murder, who admitted to killing their father and claimed they had received "systematic torture" at Mikhail's hands, including rapes and beatings.
Lawyer Mari Davtyan said Mikhail shot at the girls with a non-lethal gun, giving the siblings a reason to fear for their lives since he also owned more powerful weapons.
She said: "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. He drove them out to dig graves for themselves in the woods. They absolutely believed that this [threat to kill them] was real."
Other family members accused the siblings of killing their father for his money
New evidence indicates that the 57-year-old father had made and sent pornographic videos involving his daughters.
The Russian Investigative Committee has added distribution of pornography to the charges to be posthumously levelled at their father, already accused of sex abuse and beatings.
A lawyer acting on behalf of the dead father, Olga Khalikova, said she would dispute the claims of sex abuse and pornography.
Khalikova said: "There were no biological traces confirming the sexual abuse of girls, and cannot be. The duty of the investigation was to prove that it was Mikhail who sent this video, but this was not done."
The sisters' lawyer said that the three truly believed their father would have killed them.
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The three are set to argue in court that they acted in necessary self defence with elder sisters Krestina and Angelina charged with murder, while Maria faces time in a psychiatric hospital rather than prison after being judged temporarily insane.
Lawyer Davtyan 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.
"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".
Other family members have accused the sisters of lying about their father's sexual abuse and claimed the trio were seeking his money by killing him.
India’s Missing Children: Urgent Action Needed
73,000 children went missing in 2019
Published: May 31, 2022 08:05
Makarand R. Paranjape, Special to Gulf News
OPN MISSING CHILDREN
Some months ago, I was shocked when an elderly friend called to request some money. No, it was not his asking me for money that disturbed me, but the reason behind it. He didn’t want the money for himself. He wanted the money for his house help, whose life was going through a crisis. I expected the usual contingency —illness, death in the family, daughter’s marriage, or some similar emergency.
No poor family in India is too far off from such crises. But what I heard was unexpected and disturbing. “If she doesn’t receive the dole, her daughter may be trafficked to pay off a debt.” “What?” I responded with shock and disbelief. “Yes,” he replied calmly. “Every day children go missing. They are mostly from our poorest sections, from the slums and bastis of the national capital. Many girls are below fifteen.”
According to my friend, there are procurers on the prowl, marking their prey. They make their move when the time is opportune. Sometimes, the child is lured with promises of modelling jobs, even roles in Bollywood. At other times, the predator will befriend the target, showing some small kindness or luring her with gifts. Then the unsuspecting child would be plied with a drugged soft drink and abducted.
In the worst cases, the guardians themselves give up their wards out of some dire financial necessity. It is amazing how easy it can be, with many of these children already orphans or extremely vulnerable.
Waiting to be picked up
As one activist put it, “20 million children are either orphans or are homeless or they happen to be separated from their families and parents. I prefer to call them ‘nowhere children.…’” Un- or undereducated or mistreated by their family members because of penury or lack of opportunities, these innocents are sitting ducks, so to speak, waiting to be picked up.
That is how I began to do some research on this topic. I found that each day the newspapers report missing children. Often with their photos and a statement from the police that sincere efforts are underway to trace the missing child. Looking at their faces, even in the grimy newsprint, makes one want to cry.
They look so defenceless, so incapable of imagining the evil that might have befallen them. Despite efforts by the central and state authorities, as well as well-recognized non-governmental organisations, the number of missing children has only been increasing year after year, especially after the Covid19 pandemic.
In 2019, for example, for which the figures by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) were recently released, some 73,138 children went missing. This was nearly 9% higher than the previous year’s figure of 67,134.
Even for a country of 1.4 billion, with over 200,000 missing persons reported each year, this is a distressing high number when it comes to children. A child goes missing in India every 7.8 minutes. And this is as per the official statistics. The real number, given how many missing children are un- or underreported is likely to be much higher.
Thankfully, a good number of these children are found and reunited with their families or rehabilitated through state agencies or NGOs. Some police departments, such as Delhi’s, have announced fast-track promotions and other incentives to police personnel who find or recover missing children.
But even in Delhi, nearly 50% of these children are never found. Most of these children are beaten, starved, and abused, ending up as forced labourers, sex workers, or become victims of other forms of exploitation and degradation for decades.
Heinous and inhuman crime
When it comes to India’s sex workers, the Supreme Court recently recognised their profession as a valid occupation or form of gainful work. This will save them from being harassed by the law or hounded by society. But what about those who have been forced into the flesh trade and remain there under duress? Even if sex work is recognised, the trafficking of human beings, especially children is one of the most heinous and inhuman crimes known to humanity.
After several consciousness-raising campaigns, including the Ministry of Women and Child Development Integrated Child Protection Scheme in 2009 and the Supreme Court’s 2013 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to tackle with missing children, there is a national portal and for reporting and tracing missing children including an Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS).
Digital tools such as “TrackChild” and other child-monitoring software tools and portals, including face recognition, have been developed. In addition, the Juvenile Justice laws and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act of 2012, as well Child Protection Services (CPS) of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, are meant to provide legal safeguards to protect children.
But none of these measures goes far enough. The number of missing or stolen children, who constitute the future of the country, keeps going up. What can be done? For starters, in highly policed and politically sensitive cities like Delhi or Mumbai, there should be a concerted drive to apprehend procurers and offenders.
These can be easily identified if the police are more vigilant. There should be periodic raids on points of exchange or sale of such children. This ghastly trade should itself become unprofitable and ruinous to those who indulge in.
What about my friend’s house help? Debt paid, her girls are safe now. But for how long—unless, as a society, we do something about it?
The job of saving our children cannot be left only to the state or law enforcement authorities. It is the responsibility of all of us.
Iconic German carmaker faces lawsuit over rape and abuse in Brazil
Volkswagen may face legal action in Brazil over alleged human-rights violations
in the 1970s and 1980s
Employees who worked at a Brazilian ranch run by German carmaker Volkswagen in the 1970s and 1980s were subjected to “grave and systematic” abuses, prosecutors in Brazil have alleged.
Reports emerged in German media at the weekend that authorities in the South American country are investigating events that occurred more than four decades ago at Fazenda Rio Cristalino in the Amazon rainforest.
On Tuesday, the lead prosecutor in the case, Rafael Garcia, detailed the alleged human-rights violations at the ranch, which had been offered to Volkswagen for purchase and development by the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil at that time.
The laborers were lured to the farm in the northern state of Para with false promises of high pay, and were then forced to cut down the jungle in harsh conditions to free space for the German firm's cattle ranch, Garcia told AFP. There, they were “systematically, physically abused” by the armed guards, he added.
“Workers who tried to escape were beaten, tied to trees and left there for days,” the prosecutor said. “Those who tried to slip into the forest never came back – there were simply stories that they had been killed.”
The accusations against Volkswagen stem from a three-year-long probe by a special task force that was assembled after a local Catholic priest came forward and spoke about the alleged abuse at the ranch.
Witnesses told investigators that “one worker tried to escape, but the gunmen caught him. As punishment, they kidnapped his wife and raped her,” Garcia said.
“Another worker tried to flee and was shot in the leg. Yet another was left bound and naked,” he added.
According to the prosecutor, the laborers were kept in “debt-slavery” at the farm as they were forced to buy food and supplies from a local store for unfairly high prices.
Brazilian police discover $3.5mn trove of Nazi memorabilia at home of ‘insane psychopath’ suspected of child rape
Read more Brazilian police discover $3.5mn trove of Nazi memorabilia at home of ‘insane psychopath’ suspected of child rape
Some of the victims have also allegedly died of malaria due to lack of proper medical care.
The prosecutors have summoned Volkswagen’s representatives for an initial audience on June 14. The sides will try to reach a settlement during that meeting. If they fail to find common ground, charges against the German carmaker may be pressed.
Volkswagen said earlier that it was taking the allegations “very seriously,” but refrained from further comment “due to possible legal proceedings in Brazil.”
The German firm had already agreed to pay $6.4 million in 2020 as compensation for helping Brazil's secret police track down left-wing opposition members and union leaders during the military dictatorship between 1964 and 1985. Many of these were detained and tortured.
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