“I don’t understand what I’m charged with,” Larisa said, as reported by Interfax. “The indictment doesn’t say where, when and how often the child was “abused.” They say that I’m not raising the child properly. But these are all empty words.”

Larisa added that she would make the court listen to what her child says.

The Ageev couple was first taken to court in March 2009 after Gleb was brought to the hospital with numerous cuts and bruises across his body, including multiple heat burns. The prosecution claimed this was a result of physical abuse. The parents denied the charges saying that Gleb either had fallen off a ladder or had been bitten by a large dog. The court, however, declared the child’s adoption illegal and placed Gleb and his sister Polina into a specialised orphanage where the children will receive psychological help.

A spate of cases has brought children’s rights in Russia and abroad into sharp focus. Experts say a controversy generated by the media surrounding the case of Ivan Skorobogatov, allegedly beaten to death by his American foster parents, created the incorrect impression that there are no similar cases with foster parents in Russia, where this is far from the truth.