In St. Petersburg, a priest's family was charged after refusing to treat their adopted daughter for HIV

In St. Petersburg, a married couple was charged with causing death by negligence and leaving in danger. This family refused to treat their adopted 4-year-old daughter for HIV, she later died, according to the regional department of the Investigative Committee (IC).

In the near future, the materials of the criminal case will be transferred to the prosecutor's office, they added to the UK.

According to the publication "Orthodoxy and the World", we are talking about the Orthodox priest Georgy Sychev and his wife. The family adopted the girl in 2011, and the couple knew that the child was born with HIV and had been under the supervision of doctors from the AIDS center before adoption.

Two years later, doctors recommended that the girl undergo antiretroviral therapy (ARVT), but her parents ignored the recommendation. The father agreed to the persuasion of the doctors only after a year, when they discovered that the disease was progressing.

In 2015, a child with pneumonia was admitted to the hospital, while the mother did not report the diagnosis. Nevertheless, the doctors resumed ART, but soon the woman took her adopted daughter home. After that, the couple did not take the child for examinations and did not treat her.

In May 2016, the girl was sent to intensive care by a court decision; on August 27, 2017, she died from severe immunodeficiency and concomitant diseases.

According to media reports, the couple refused to treat the child for religious reasons, although the Russian Orthodox Church does not officially deny AIDS. The diocese expressed condolences in connection with the death of the child.