Activists postpone march for Khachaturyan sisters after receiving threats from ‘Male State’ group and permit refusal from Moscow officials

Supporters of the Khachaturyan sisters, who face up to 20 years in prison for killing their father after years of constant violence and abuse, have announced that they will attempt to receive a permit to march in support of the sisters for July 27 rather than July 6. Organizers said the safety of marchers would have been under threat on July 6 due both to the risk of arrest and to physical threats from nationalist patriarchal groups.

The risk of arrest emerged when Moscow municipal officials refused to issue a protest permit for July 6 even though the march’s organizers suggested several possible locations. The July 27 date was selected instead to coincide with the first anniversary of the day the Khachaturyan sisters rebelled against their father.

Organizers also cited threats from online pages for a group called The Male State. The activists posted a screenshot of a call from “The Male State Headquarters” saying members should “write to Nikita” if they would like to join a group bent on “reminding” the protesters “where fucking whores who mess with their fathers belong!” The message opens with the exclamation “Moscow Achtung!” March organizers had also received screenshots of messages in which Male State supporters planned to attack them using pepper spray. The activists indicated that marchers would have no means of defending themselves from physical violence if they could already be charged with protesting illegally.