Story highlights The doctor beat the patient after the patient kicked a nurse, authorities said

The incident occurred December 29 in the southwestern Russian city of Belgorod

(CNN) A doctor faces up to two years in prison for beating a patient who later died, Russian investigators said Saturday.

The man was beaten December 29 at Belgorod's City Hospital No. 2 in southwestern Russia near the border with Ukraine. Officials opened a criminal case the next day, following an autopsy of the patient's body, which revealed the presence of traumatic brain injury, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Belgorod region said in a statement.

The doctor was fired and his actions are classified as negligence, since there is no evidence he intended to kill the patient, the Investigative Committee said.

The incident was captured on surveillance video and went viral on the Internet. The committee said the criminal case was initiated before the video surfacing online.

The patient entered the hospital and, in the course of a procedure, kicked a nurse, the Russian state news agency Ria Novosti reported, citing investigators.

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