Majority of Russian citizens approve of Armenian businessman Gegham Sargsyan, who killed three assaulters attacking his wife and five children in Russian Tula region.

In a survey by Russian RIA Novosti news agency, 48.6% of respondents said Sargsyan acted lawfully protecting his wife and kids, another 45.6 per cent voted for increased rights for citizens in self-defense.

Only 0.2% think Sargsyan went beyond mere self-defense and should face a trial for homicide.

According to Tatyana Sergeyeva, head of Tula Investigative committee department the investigation does not rule out that Sargsyan exceeded the necessary self-defense actions. A criminal case is filed on murder of two and more persons, life imprisonment being toughest punishment for this.

This incident sparked heated debates on the web; Tula governor Vladimir Gruzdev joined the discussion pledging to protect Sargsyan.

“He is a real MAN, and we will stand up for him,” governor’s Twitter said.

According to the Russian law enforcement, Saturday night four armed assaulters rushed into the businessman’s house in the city of Bogoroditsk in Tula region, attacking Sargsyan, his wife and four junior kids including one-year-old infant.

The criminals beat his family, but Sargsyan managed to grab a kitchen knife and stab all the four assaulters; three of them died, the forth one managed to flee the scene.

Sargsyan is in hospital with injury, his family members were treated on the spot. The robbers are identified; all of them had previous criminal records.

Andrei Mishagin, acting head of Tula’s Internal Affairs department earlier said that the attack may be linked with the businessman’s conflict with one of his relatives. According to preliminary data, all four criminals have come to Tula by a hint from Moscow outskirts.