A pediatrician in the Sverdlovsk region faces a criminal case for injuring a child who, the medic insisted, was possessed by demons, local investigators said on Thursday.
Ivan Yeryomin, a 26-year-old doctor, made a house call in the town of Beryozovsky in the Urals to check on an ill three-year-old child, whose name was withheld, the Veved.ru local news website reported.
While examining the child, Yeryomin tried to shove his hand down his throat, causing him to bleed and faint, the report said.
When boy’s father stopped the doctor and called the police, Yeryomin said he was trying to exorcize demons from the child. The medic also insisted he was sent to Earth by unspecified powers to prevent the Apocalypse.
The incident took place on March 1 but the case was only opened this week, the local branch of the Investigative Committee said on its website. The accused faces battery charges, punishable with a fine of 40,000 rubles ($1,350) or a three months jail term.
The child was hospitalized with serious injuries and trauma. Yeryomin was taken to a psychiatric hospital after apparently having suffered a nervous breakdown, investigators said.
