A toddler who was bodyslammed to the bottom by a thug at a world airport has opened his eyes after greater than per week.
Shocking CCTV footage of the attack at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on June 23 showed the 18-month-old leaning against a suitcase.
Suddenly, Belarusian Vladimir Vitkov, 31, a nuclear power plant construction employee, picked up and hurled little Yazdan on the bottom.
After a transient spasm, the boy, named Yazdan, becomes motionless as someone picks him up of their arms to maintain him secure.
The tot had arrived in Russia minutes earlier after he and his mother fled the bombing in Iran, based on local reports.
Local media have now said Yazdan has opened his eyes and is respiratory on his own, but continues to be in intensive care.
His father, Mohammed Shahim, said yesterday: ‘Two hours ago, he was disconnected from the ventilator. Doctors say that he’ll remain in intensive care until tomorrow.
‘He regained consciousness, opened his eyes, but will not be saying anything yet. I’m here every second, I’m with him 24/7.’
Chief physician at Moscow’s L.M. Roshal Children’s Clinical Centre, Tatyana Shapovalenko, said: ‘The kid was extubated, meaning that the boy is now respiratory on his own with a high flow of oxygen.’
31-year-old Vitkov stays in custody and has reportedly refused to apologise to Yazdan’s family.
Yazdan’s father, Mohammed, said: ‘He will not be a person, he’s Devil, he’s Shaitan. He mocked us: me, my wife.’
Vitkov was reportedly high on drugs and told the police he was a schizophrenia patient.
The Belarusian was reported by some outlets to have been on the identical flight because the child and his mother, who were escaping from Iran, where they’d been visiting relatives.
Initial reports found he was returning home through Moscow after failing a drug and alcohol check for a job in Egypt.
Vitkov later confessed to being high on drugs when he threw the toddler head-first onto the bottom.
In police discussions, Vitkov seemingly confessed to the crime when asked to clarify what he did.
He told an officer: ‘I attempted to murder a toddler… at Sheremetyevo Airport.’
When asked what his motive was, Vitkov said he ‘didn’t know’ because he was ‘under the influence of medicine’.
Reports said cannabis had been present in his possession, and there have been traces of the drug in his blood.
Mash news outlet reported today that he had drunk three bottles of whisky and obtained cannabis in Cairo before the incident.
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