The photos of the child’s knees, looking as if they were mutilated  by a mystery disease, sent shockwaves across Russia. Doctors had to use general anesthesia to remove the ingrown seeds, cutting cut off large fragments of skin.

The surgery and weeks of painful rehabilitation, however,  was nothing, compared to what the starved kid had to endure at home in the Siberian city of Omsk, where he lived with his mom, Alina Yumasheva, 27, and a boyfriend she met online, Sergey Kazakov, 35.

At some point, the prospective stepdad decided that the child was getting out of hand and needed discipline, but the method he apparently found online resembled something from a medieval torture book.

Whenever the boy was late from school or misbehaved and upset stepdad in any other way, he was made to stand on his knees on a bag of buckwheat. A single punishment session could last from 30 minutes to nine hours in a row, with Kazakov using a webcam to keep an eye on his victim. These clips have now become evidence in the criminal case, as they also captured him kicking the crying child and pulling his hair.

The mother did nothing to protect her child, claiming she once tried this harsh but “effective” schooling and didn’t feel any pain. Obviously, she didn’t stand on buckwheat for nine hours straight.

Hardly a troublemaker, studying hard, never skipping lessons and voluntarily taking part in out-of-class activities, the boy was apparently too scared to tell anyone, his teacher believe. But after yet another harsh punishment in May the finally boy fled their country house and shared his story with a neighbor, who instantly called the police.

The appalling domestic violence case only made headlines this week after prosecutors announced that Kazakov and Yumasheva were about to go on trial. They may face up to seven years in prison on charges of torture, deliberate infliction of moderate bodily harm and failure to properly raise a minor. The man is in custody, pending trial, while the woman was put under travel restrictions as she claims she didn’t know that her son was also beaten up. The boy currently lives with his mother, under social services watch.

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