A wealthy father who tortured and starved his three-year-old son and made his short life “pure hell” is sentenced to death by a bullet to the head in Belarus

A rich father who tortured and starved his three-year-old son and made his short life “pure hell” is being executed in Belarus with a bullet in the head.

Alexander Taratuta (48) was sentenced to death for the brutal torture and murder of his son Semyon.

He is shot in the back of the head in Belarus, the only country in Europe that uses the death penalty.

His wife Anastasia Taratuta (37) was sentenced to 25 years in a strict penal colony for Semyon’s murder.

The death penalty – by a state executioner – is not allowed for women in Belarus.

As Sputnik media reported, both “quietly listened to their punishment” while handcuffed in a glass cage.

Alexander continued to look away from the camera as a judge announced the verdict, while Anastasia held her hands to her face in the dock as her husband was sentenced to death.

The couple is seen in a courtroom during the sentencing

Seymon suffered prolonged starvation and weighed only 15 pounds when he died at the age of three. A photo on his tombstone shows the boy with a nose injured by his parents

Seymon finally died on January 4 this year after the father kicked him in the head “to make him sit on the floor”. The child fell and showed “no signs of life”.

A court was told how the “wealthy” couple gave the boy a life of “pure hell”.

Little Semyon had to sleep on bare linoleum in his private home in Slutsk, 105 kilometers south of the capital Minsk, and was often stunned by the cold.

His mother – a Russian citizen – often hit Semyon in the face and threw him at her husband or against the wall. She also dropped him in the bath.

The three-year-old was tied to a table leg and tied to other people’s hands with food dangling in front of his face.

Seymon suffered prolonged starvation and weighed only 15 pounds when he died at the age of three.

A photo on his tombstone shows the boy with a nose injured by his parents.

“His parents simply insulted, humiliated and beat him instead of taking care of him,” a court report said.

Alexander denied cruelty and claimed he wanted to “educate” his son.

Mother Anastasia Taratuta (37) is sentenced to 25 years in prison – the maximum sentence allowed for a woman – for the torture and murder of her three-year-old son Semyon under the strict regime.

Father Alexander Taratuta (48) was sentenced to death in Belarus for the torture and murder of his three-year-old son Semyon.

This photo shows Semyon’s bed from hell house

Semyon was frequently put in the bath, forced to sleep on the floor and tied to furniture while being beaten

As “punishment” for the dirt on the floor, the frightened boy was put in a bathtub and objects were thrown at him.

Seymon finally died on January 4 this year after the father kicked him in the head “to make him sit on the floor”. The child fell “without any signs of life”.

An autopsy revealed that Semyon had eight other serious wounds inflicted by his parents.

A paramedic who confirmed Semyon’s death said: “The boy was very thin, like a skeleton, covered in skin and looked like an African child with a big belly.”

“There was a dew mark on his head and a piece of hair was gone.”

The child’s eye socket was “torn almost to the temple”.

The couple had two other children together, both daughters, now aged four and one, and Anastasia had custody of the older of two sons, aged 14 and 12 respectively, from a previous relationship.

They are now all in care and formal legal proceedings are underway to revoke the couple’s parental rights.

Anastasia has two older children, but the terrible child abuse is reserved for Semyon.

Alexander continued to look away from the camera as a judge announced the verdict, while Anastasia held her hands to her face in the dock as her husband was sentenced to death.

Mother Anastasia Taratuta (37) is sentenced to 25 years in prison under a strict regime

Wicked parents Alexander and Anastasia Taratuta (48 and 37) face the death penalty and 25 years in prison respectively for the murder of their three-year-old son Semyon.

Galina Shaduro, director of social services, said the family was “wealthy”.

Both parents saw their eldest daughter as a “princess”, while the youngest was also in love.

After Semyon’s death, mother Anastasia went to a store and bought lollipops for her other two young children.

The Belarusian prosecutor said the couple were motivated by “personal animosity” towards the boy. They planned to kill him, the prosecutor said.

“Out of personal animosity towards their clearly young son Semyon, they hit him at least nine times with their hands and feet, including seven times on the head, in the presence of his younger brother, to kill him.

“The defendants were aware that by repeatedly striking the boy with considerable force, including with booted feet, on the head, torso and limbs, they were causing his son constant physical pain, special torture and suffering.”

In his “last word” in court, Alexander, a Belarusian national who used to work in a clothing factory, said he regretted that his life had “turned out this way.”

Alexander said he “regrets that the latest attack” on his son was “too strong”.

“There were no intentions, no conspiracies.” “I didn’t want to kill, there were no such thoughts,” he said.

His wife was condemned in a court report as a “cheap actress who posed as a grieving mother during the final court hearing.”

She wrote a closing speech for the court but refused to read it.

He can appeal against his death sentence and ask Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko for clemency.

But such moves rarely change executive decisions.

Those facing the death penalty are blindfolded and forced to kneel before being shot in the back of the head.

The method is similar to the method used during Stalin’s time in the USSR.