A Russian anaesthetist has been jailed for raping a patient as she recovered from plastic surgery on her breasts.
Married Dr Yury Chernikov, 60, offered his victim a bar of chocolate and an emergency postcoital contraceptive after the brutal sex attack.
Victim Erika Bykova, 33, a fashion designer, waived her right to anonymity to publicly demand punishment for the grandfather who claimed the hospital sex was consensual even though she was under anaesthetic and could not talk.
Erika Bykova, 33, was raped by an anaesthetist in a hospital bed as she recovered from having breast surgery
The fashion designer was under anaesthetic and could not talk as the 60-year-old forced himself on her
Dr Chernikov was jailed for three years and two months, a reduced sentence after he paid his patient £11,600 in compensation.
Prosecutors at the court in the Russian city of Samara had demanded five years prison.
After the trial, the victim hailed the verdict as her personal victory in overcoming Russian taboos about exposing and convicting rapists.
The mother-of-one – who had the surgery to ‘improve the shape’ of her breasts – denied to a TV audience ahead of the doctor’s trial that she had agreed to sex moments after surgery.
‘I was moaning,’ she said. But I was moaning because I couldn’t scream. It was the very first surgery in my life.
‘I saw him before the surgery. He came to my ward to talk about the results of my pre-operation checks.
Married Dr Yury Chernikov, 60, offered her a bar of chocolate and an emergency postcoital contraceptive after the brutal sex attack
Ms Bykova preserved his semen and handed it to police so they could catch the predator
‘My husband was against the surgery – he believed that I was beautiful enough already.
‘I was shaking crazily after the operation, and I heard a voice telling me: “Girl, everything will be okay, everything will be fine”.
‘He was touching me, it was the anaesthetist’s voice. Then he allowed himself to do things that a doctor must not do.
‘He was commenting on what he was doing. He raped me.
‘I was in a helpless state. At that moment I could understand everything but my eyelids were very heavy, I even couldn’t open them fully.
‘I tried to push him away with my legs but I couldn’t do that.’
She was unable to scream for help, and they were alone in an ante-room to the operating theatre, she said.
‘I absolutely trusted the doctor. I trusted him with my life and body.
‘For a long time I couldn’t pull myself together and talk to my husband about it.’
The mother-of-one – who had the surgery to ‘improve the shape’ of her breasts – denied to a TV audience ahead of the doctor’s trial that she had agreed to sex moments after surgery
But she had preserved the anaesthetist’s sperm which she later handed to police.
‘I am sorry for sharing these details (but) I am speaking out to help women in the same situation who cannot talk about it to anyone.’
Ahead of the trial, the doctor told state-funded NTV channel: ‘Yes, there was sexual intercourse.
‘There was ejaculation. I constantly controlled my actions, all the touching and licking.
‘I was asking her, “Erika, are you feeling good, am I not hurting you?” And she answered: ‘Yes, I’m feeling good’.’
He said that he gave her oral sex and ‘she kept her legs spread – she didn’t try to say a word or stop it’.
The doctor admitted: ‘Obviously, five minutes after everything happened, I was terrified.
‘And I realised my children, my grandchildren, my wife would never forgive me. At that moment I hadn’t been thinking about anything.
Dr Chernikov was jailed for three years and two months, a reduced sentence after he paid his patient £11,600 in compensation
‘Another organ was doing the thinking.’
In court testimony he claimed that after he finished the woman told him she ‘hadn’t felt so good in a while’.
He also claimed his victim loved him.
Following the trial, Ms Bykova said on social media that women rape victims in Russia had to ‘stop hushing up’ sexual attacks and demand laws are used to convict guilty men.
She claimed many sex attacks go unpunished and believes if she had not gone public, the doctor would walked free.
‘No crime should remain without punishment,’ she said.
‘It is important to stop hushing up. There are enough laws, but the problem is different.
‘Often, women do not have a clue that they are protected by the law, but even when they know about it, they are confronted with customs that exist in society preventing them from defending their rights.
‘Women protect rapists, not daring to speak out loud that she was raped, since stereotypes of public opinion prohibit her from doing so.
‘Her silence multiplies the risk of new rapes.
‘But if she can break the silence, then the rapist will be ashamed, who will know now that the crime has not gone unnoticed, that he will be tried and sentenced.
‘This will completely change the situation.’
Ms Bykova said that he gave her oral sex and ‘she kept her legs spread – she didn’t try to say a word or stop it’
Ms Bykova said: ‘In this case, the anaesthetist is a sick person. But the people covering it are the worst criminals.
‘I learned a lot about people around me, my friends, enemies, and yet the main thing I learned about myself.
‘I turned out to be a warrior in a skirt seeking justice for my soul.’
Ms Bykova claimed Chernikov put her under pressure – and even her own lawyers were reluctant to take her case, fearing disapproval from the authorities.
She said the anaesthetist had told her he would pay her compensation and ‘find the best gynaecologist’ for her if she did not take legal action.
The day after the attack brought her ‘a chocolate bar and a postcoital contraceptive’, she revealed.
The way a society deals with violence against women shows its ‘level of morality’ and wellbeing of people, she said.
‘Keeping silent helps rapists.’
The anaesthetist’s wife Tatiana said: ‘He is not a rapist, that’s for sure.
‘He just showed weakness. He showed weakness as a man.’