Man who 'starved baby to death on sunlight diet' switches to eating meat

28 October 2023 , 13:27

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Blogger Maxim Lyutyi, 43, faces trial in Russia for torturing his baby (Image: Social media/EAST2WEST NEWS)

A Dad accused of killing his one-month-old son with a diet of sunlight and cold showers is now eating meat as he goes on trial over the baby's death.

Russian Maxim Lyutyi, 43, was known as a "radical raw foodist" who like his wife, Oxana Mironova, 33, also believes in "feeding on sunlight", according to Zvezda News. The unnamed baby boy died around one month old and he is suspected of suffering from pneumonia and emaciation after starvation near the Black Sea resort city of Sochi.

Lyutyi told reporters as he arrived at court that he had abandoned his strict eating regime after developing a taste for prison pasta and stew while he was awaiting trial. He said: "I consume meat. And not just meat, but other products as well." He and his wife founded a club called 'The Living Man' intended to help Russians "improve their health and sort out personal problems." He was described as a "master of working with the body and consciousness" and offered "healing" to his clients.

Blogger Maxim Lyutyi, left (Social media/EAST2WEST NEWS)

Prosecutors said when Lyutyi tried to raise his baby son in the same way, the helpless infant was starved to the point of death and then was forced to have cold showers. Lyutyi, they say, rejected all medicine and continued to spray the baby with cold water, claiming it would toughen up the child. Horrified medics declared the baby dead when Lyutyi and the infant's mother, Oksana Mironova, finally took him to hospital in March in a state of severe malnutrition.

Medics say the infant had developed pneumonia after Lyutyi's attempts to make the boy immune to illness by spraying him with cold water. He told police he rejected conventional medicine did not trust doctors and even delivered the baby unaided at home.

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Caution News citing law enforcement said that the couple "tried to transfer the baby to prana-eating — a diet in which people go without food and water for a long time and ‘feed on the sun’." His social media posts are filled with bizarre notions including accusing Greta Thunberg of being an "actress" and claiming 3D printers were part of life in the 19th century.

Lyutyi is facing up to 15 years in jail for his son's death. Judges were told he pleaded not guilty to causing his son's death by negligence and blamed his wife for the baby's shattered health. In an earlier trial Lyutyi's wife Oksana Mironova was jailed for two years in a correctional labour colony.

Rachel Hagan