3-year-old Russian boy killed by American adoptive mother in Texas

3-year-old Russian boy killed by American adoptive mother in Texas

Published: 18 February, 2013, 17:57

Edited: 18 February, 2013, 22:24

After being brutally beaten by his American adoptive mother, who gave him psychotropic medication for an extended period of time, a 3-year-old Russian boy named Maksim has died in Texas, Russian diplomats have said.

Russia’s Investigative Committee has launched a probe into the death of Maksim Kuzmin at the hands of his adoptive American family.

The boy died before medics, called by his adoptive mother, arrived at the scene. An autopsy showed that he suffered multiple injuries to his head, limb, abdomen and internal organs prior to death.

The investigation revealed that Maksim was beaten by his adoptive mother, who had also fed him strong psychotropic medication. The boy was given Risperdal, an anti-psychotic drug mainly used for short-term treatment of schizophrenia and bilateral disorders and approved for prescription in the US with the starting age of 10.

The US State Department did not comment on the boy’s death, which reportedly happened on January 21. Nevertheless, the incident became known to the Russian Embassy in the US.

Russian Children’s Ombudsman Pavel Astakhov has asked the Russian Foreign Ministry to conduct an impartial investigation, and to keep Russia informed of all details concerning Maksim’s death.

Russian MFA Representative for Human Rights Konstantin Dolgov said the US State Department failed to provide help to the Russian diplomats investigating Kuzmin’s death. In a Twitter post, Dolgov called the incident “yet another inhuman abuse of a Russian child adopted by an American family,” and said he was expecting “severe punishment for those found guilty in his death.”

Maksim’s death comes amid heightened Russia-US tensions, which center on children and human rights abuses. The boy’s death was less than a month after the ‘Dima Yakovlev Law’ banning US citizens from adopting Russian foster children came into force.

Although the two countries agreed in 2012 to form a joint task force to investigate crimes against adopted Russian children, Russian politicians and law enforcement have repeatedly said the US is reluctant to cooperate on the matter. They also noted that convicted American parents were given soft sentences for their cruel treatment, or even manslaughter, of Russian kids, which was said to be one of the grounds for the adoption ban bill.

.