A Russian court on today sentenced a Bolshoi dancer to six years in a penal colony for masterminding an acid attack that nearly blinded the famed company's artistic director.
Former soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko and two co-defendants were found guilty of carrying out a premeditated attack on Sergei Filin in a case that exposed vicious infighting at the storied institution.
The January attack left Filin, 43, nearly blind as the acid flung in his face caused severe injuries to eyes and skin. He underwent dozens of operations and is continuing treatment in Germany.
The high-profile case was the biggest scandal ever to embroil the world's most famous ballet company.
Dmitrichenko, 29, who was known for dancing dark characters like Ivan the Terrible, planned the attack on Filin because he was angry with his management decisions, the judge said.
"Dmitrichenko was unhappy with the way Filin allocated roles and bonuses to dancers, Dmitrichenko worked out a criminal plan," Judge Yelena Maksimova said at the end of the weeks-long trial.
Dmitrichenko, the court heard, was also upset that his ex-girlfriend, the up-and-coming soloist Anzhelina Vorontsova, had been passed over for top roles.
Filin had discovered her as a promising teenager in a provincial town but the two apparently fell out later.
Dmitrichenko asked an ex-convict, Yury Zarutsky, to carry out the attack while a third man, Andrei Lipatov, drove Zarutsky to the scene outside Filin's apartment building, the court heard.
Zarutsky was sentenced to 10 years in a special penal colony for repeat offenders, while Lipatov was handed a four-year prison term in a strict regime colony, like Dmitrichenko.
The three must also pay Filin a total of 3.5 million rubles (about USD 100,000) in moral and material damages.
A pale Dmitrichenko listened attentively during the hearing, smiling occasionally to friends in the audience. He smiled at his father upon hearing the sentence.
