Lifestyle blogger confesses to starving his newborn son after trying to prove the child could survive by ‘eating’ SUNLIGHT instead of food or milk
A lifestyle blogging father has admitted to starving his newborn son after trying to prove the baby could survive on nothing but sunlight.
His child Kosmos died of ‘pneumonia and emaciation’ after Maxim Lyutyi, 44, and partner Oxana Mironova, 34, failed to properly feed the boy, less than a month old.
The Russian father faces up to eight years in prison and a fine for ‘intentionally causing grievous bodily harm’.
He admitted his guilt during a final trial before sentencing this week in Sochi.
He had previously tried to shift the blame to Mironova, who has already received a non-custodial sentence of two years of ‘penal labour’.
Blogger Maxim Lyutyi, 44, pleads guilty to torturing his son by insisting the child survived thanks to sun rays instead of food
Russian father faces up to eight years in prison and a fine for ‘intentionally causing grievous bodily harm’
Blogger Maxim Lyutyi, 44, pleads guilty to torturing his son by insisting the child survived thanks to sun rays instead of food
Mironova (right), 34, admitted her guilt and expressed remorse for her son’s death. Lyutyi (left) faces a separate trial, accused of torturing his newborn baby
Lyutyi has long campaigned for highly restrictive diets consisting of raw ingredients
The court was previously told that Lyutyi wanted to raise the newborn on prana eating – a diet that requires people to live for long periods without food and water and ‘feed on the sun’.
He was accused of forbidding Mironova from breastfeeding the child and was described as a ‘radical raw food fanatic’.
“He wanted to experiment with the child, feed him purely with the sun and then announce to others that this is how you can eat,” the source said.
Oxana’s mother Galina accused the sinister Lyutyi of leading a “cult.”
“I was against my daughter joining this sect,” she said.
‘I felt everything and told her that Maxim was crazy, but she didn’t listen to me.
‘Oxana lived there like a guinea pig. Each time she grew colder towards me… She was his slave.’
Another relative of Mironiva said: “Oxana told me she was afraid of him. She often wanted to leave him, but he stopped her…
“He wanted to raise (his son) to be a man who only eats the sun.”
Oxana’s cousin Olesya Nikolayeva said: ‘He forced her not to feed the baby. Her friend believed that the sun nourished the baby.
“Oxana secretly tried to breastfeed the baby, but she was very afraid of Maxim. How is it possible to feed the baby with sunlight?
‘A baby needs its mother’s milk.’
Lyutyi is seen in a cage in a courtroom during his trial
Lifestyle trainer Maxim Lyutyi (pictured), 44, wanted to raise the newborn on prana eating – a diet that involves people going for long periods without food and water and ‘feeding on the sun’, it was claimed.
Mironova has already received a two-year non-custodial sentence for ‘corrective work’
Oxana Mironova, 34, convicted by a Russian court of starving her child, and sentenced to two years of correctional labor
Mironova is led out of a courtroom by guards
Lyutyi had delivered his child at home and refused to let Oxana go to a maternity hospital.
Finally, they decided to take the emaciated child to the doctors, but the medical staff could do nothing to save the terribly malnourished baby.
Oxana’s mother previously said that she sent her daughter money to help her in any way she could, but that she could not feed the child enough under the watchful eye of her partner.
“(Lyutyi) forbade her to feed the child.
“Oxana told me that she secretly fed the baby, but she didn’t have enough money because he didn’t give her anything.
‘I sent Oxana money for food from my pension. She secretly bought baby food.’