The influencer finally confessed to killing his son when he appeared at his final court hearing
A Russian influencer, Maxim Lyutyi, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for the death of his one-month-old son. Lyutyi reportedly believed exposing the baby, named Kosmos, to sunlight would grant him superhuman abilities. Tragically, the infant died of malnutrition and pneumonia while being rushed to the hospital in Sochi. Lyutyi had expected an early release based on a social media post in January.
Now, he is facing more than eight years behind bars in a high-security prison for 'intentional infliction of serious bodily harm,' following his last-minute change of plea to guilty last week.
Metro reported that Kosmos was born at home because Lyutyi refused to let the boy's mother, Oksana Mironova, go to a maternity hospital.
Subsequently, Lyutyi initiated a regimen for the infant centred around a strictly vegan 'prana' diet, emphasizing foods such as berries believed to enhance the body's spiritual energy.
A more extreme variant, known as breatharianism, goes to the lengths of proposing that sustenance can be derived solely from sunlight.
Mironova's cousin Olesya Nikolayeva expressed her dismay, saying, "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."
The influencer wanted "to experiment on the child and feed him purely with the sun, and then advertise it to others that this is how you can eat", the media outlet reported.
Reports emerged that Lyutyi also rejected traditional medical care and subjected Kosmos to cold baths, believing it would strengthen the baby. Interestingly, during his imprisonment, the now 48-year-old Lyutyi has completely abandoned his previous beliefs, even consuming meat. Mironova's mother, Galina, expressed regret that this change didn't happen sooner.
She said: 'I was against my daughter being in this sect.
'I felt everything, and told her that Maxim was crazy, but she didn't listen to me.
'Oksana lived there like a guinea pig. Each time she became colder to me.... She was his slave.'
Another relative said: '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.'
By the time Lyutyi agreed to let his baby boy go to the hospital, it was already too late. Kosmos was so malnourished he died before he got there on March 8 last year, the Metro reported.
Medics declared the 3.5-pound baby dead and both Lyutyi and Mironova were arrested.
The influencer finally confessed to killing his son when he appeared at his final court hearing ahead of his sentencing this week.
Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of eight and a half years in prison and a nearly 900 pound fine.