'Feeding on sunlight': Couple arrested after newborn baby 'starves'
'Radical raw foodist' Maxim Lyutyi and his partner were detained by police after their son died.
The parents of a newborn child who died of “prolonged starvation” have been detained in Russia amid claims they are believers in “feeding on sunlight”.
Oxana Mironova, the baby's 33-year-old mum, is under investigation for causing death by negligence. She has been placed under house arrest for two months by a judge.
Her influencer partner Maxim Lyutyi, 43, is known as a “radical raw foodist” who, like his wife, also believes in “feeding on sunlight”, Zvezda News reports. Lyutyi was separately detained for resisting police.
“The preliminary version of the infant's death is severe exhaustion…that the blogger tried to instil his nutrition system in the baby,” according to the outlet.
The boy — believed to be around one month old — died as the parents rushed him to hospital. He is suspected of suffering pneumonia and emaciation after starvation.
The Russian Investigative Committee is examining the circumstances of the child’s tragic death near Black Sea resort city Sochi, and a criminal case has been launched.
The child was reportedly born at home, and was not seen by doctors. The couple's apartment has been searched, according to reports.
Couple 'tried to transfer baby to prana eating'
Lyutyi is known as “a propagandist of raw food” and a lifestyle trainer, Mash media said. He is the author of methods of "cleansing the body”.
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’.”
Lyutyi and his partner founded a club called ‘The Living Man’ intended to help Russians “improve their health and sort out personal problems”.
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He is described as a “master of working with the body and consciousness” and offered “healing” to his clients.
The 43-year-old's 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.
Nine weeks ago he posted a video of him driving at 224 kph, well above the Russian speed limit.
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