Blogger who starved son to death after making him live on sunlight instead of food given harsher punishment
Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse which some readers may find distressing.
The blogger who starved his son to death after making him live on sunlight has been given a harsher punishment.
Maxim Lyutyi is currently serving his eight-year sentence in a high security penal colony.
The Russian raw food campaigner’s son, Kosmos, tragically died from ‘pneumonia and emaciation’ before he was even one month old.
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And the mother of the baby was also sentenced to two years non-custodial correctional labour over the death.
Mash news outlet reported that the Lyutyi would take the infant away from mum Oxana Mironova for a day at a time while ‘dousing him with cold water to harden him’.
“The little body could not withstand the abuse: exhaustion developed and breathing problems appeared,” it explained.
“But even in this condition, the child was not shown to doctors.”
The lifestyle blogger was initially convicted in April with a court hearing how he caused ‘intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm’ to Kosmos. Lyutyi insisted his son be nourished mainly on sunlight. The baby weighed just three-and-a-half pounds.
Having initially blamed Mironova, the dad eventually changed his plea to admit his guilt.
Prosecutors had appealed the sentence arguing it was too lenient. A court official said he was also fined £860.
However, a court has now ruled that Lyutyi should serve ten instead of eight years.
He claimed the mum had an iron deficiency which caused Kosmos’ death.
The court was earlier told how Lyutyi wanted to raise his son on prana-eating - a diet in which people go without food and water for a prolonged period and instead ‘feed on the sun’.
The blogger (who was found to be eating meat in custody despite his raw food philosophy) was accused of barring Mironova from breastfeeding her baby.
“He wanted to experiment on the child, feed him purely with the sun, and then advertise it to others that this is how you can eat,” said one source.
Mironva’s mother, Galina, accused the cruel Lyutyi of running a ‘sect’.
“I was against my daughter being in 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 became colder to me…
“She was his slave.”
Lyutyi is widely known as being a ‘radical raw food fanatic’.
Another of Mironiva’s relatives added: “Oxana told me that she was afraid of him.
“She wanted to leave him many times, but he held her back… He wanted to raise [his son into] a man who only eats the sun.”
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, 10am-8pm Monday to Friday. If you are a child seeking advice and support, call Childline for free on 0800 1111, 24/7.
Jess Battison