Blogger sentenced to eight years in prison after newborn son starved to death from being fed 'sunlight'

A Russian blogger has been jailed for eight years after his newborn son starved to death last year.

Lifestyle blogger Maxim Lyutyi, 44, wanted his baby boy Cosmos to be like Superman, a Russian court heard.

Instead, the infant died of ‘pneumonia and emaciation’ when he was just one month old.

Cosmos was born at home because Lyutyi refused to let his mother Oksana Mironova, 34, go to hospital.

He then demanded that the infant should live on sunlight instead of food and milk - a highly dangerous practice known as breatharianism.

Maxim Lyutyi faces more than eight years in prison after his newborn son starved to death from being fed 'sunlight' (Instagram/@yarilo_drug)

Mironova’s cousin Olesya Nikolayeva said: "He forced her not to feed the baby. Her boyfriend believed that the sun was feeding the baby.

"Oksana was secretly trying to breastfeed the baby, but she was very afraid of Maxim.

"How is it possible to feed the baby with sunlight? A baby needs his mother’s milk."

Lyuti would also reportedly take Cosmos away from his mother for a day at a time, 'dousing him with cold water to harden him', according to Mash news outlet.

After weeks of abuse, Lyuti eventually let his child see a doctor, but it was tragically too late.

Cosmos was so horrendously malnourished that he passed away before he got to the hospital.

Medics declared the 3.5 pound baby dead on arrival and both parents were arrested.

However, the lifestyle blogger insists he didn't 'deliberately kill [his] child' (Instagram/@yarilo_drug)

At a court hearing in Sochi last week, Lyuti pleaded guilty to 'negligence' and now faces more than eight years in prison.

He said: "I admit my guilt. If I knew that my son was born prematurely, that his mother had contraindications for pregnancy, then at the first symptoms of the child's illness I would immediately contact a hospital, regardless of the wishes and beliefs of the mother…"

However, he insists that he did not 'deliberately kill [his] child' and claims he 'loved' and 'cared' for him.

He added: "This is purely a crime of negligence…without such intent. I emphasise once again that I loved my son, cared for him."

He also denied pouring cold water on the infant and forbidding Oksana from feeding him.

A court official said Lyutyi was also fined £860.

Mironova’s mother Galina wishes this had happened sooner and accused her daughter's former partner 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."

Topics: News, World News, Russia, Crime, Parenting

Bec Oakes