A Russian couple went on trial on Tuesday accused of disemboweling their 26-year-old daughter, then trampling her to death in a gruesome Christmas Eve exorcism.
Investigators said Sergei Koshimbetov, a 49-year-old taxi driver, and 50-year-old Elena Antonova, a teacher, of Voronezh tortured their daughter for several hours before killing her on the night of Jan. 7 when Orthodox Russia celebrates Christmas.
With the goal of “exorcising demons” they first beat up their daughter and tried to force-feed her 5 liters of what they claimed was “holy water.”
“After that, Antonova ripped a part of her daughter’s intestine out with her hands,” investigators from the Voronezh region said in a statement. “After that the husband and wife trampled her body until she died.”
The parents, who deny the killing, were ordered to stand trial despite being deemed mentally ill by psychiatrists, investigators said. They were expected to be committed to a mental institution.
“I absolutely did not kill her,” Antonova said. “What I did, I did to her body.”
Investigators said the couple insisted they wanted to save her from evil.
“The mother and father believed they were helping their daughter to stop loving her husband, believing him to be Satan,” investigator Murat Suroyev said.
When their daughter Alexander stopped breathing, her parents wrapped her in a blanket, telling relatives she would be resurrected in three days, the state-controlled NTV channel said.
The next day their younger daughter called an ambulance. Medics said they were shocked by the scene.
“The woman was lying in some kind of a crucifix position,” paramedic Irina Semirod said.
Citing the findings from the Serbsky psychiatric hospital, investigators said the parents were mentally ill and needed to undergo treatment.
Arriving at the hearing with a Bible, Antonova said she did not understand why she had to be committed.
“How can they send me to a madhouse?” she said. “I feel fine.”
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was