Bolshoi Dancer Sentenced to 6 Years in Acid Attack

Russian dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko is headed to prison for six years over an acid attack against Bolshoi Theater artistic director Sergei Filin. The sentence is less than the nine years prosecutors had sought for the dancer known for playing evil roles, the New York Times reports. Dmitrichenko confessed to asking another man, Yuri Zarutsky, to hit Filin "on the nose"; testimony indicated that Dmitrichenko paid Zarutsky $1,500 to attack Filin, judge Yelena Maximova said.

Zarutsky has been sentenced to 10 years over conspiracy to cause bodily harm, and the alleged getaway driver involved got four years. "Their guilt in committing the crime has been established in full," said Maximova. But the defendants plan to appeal, Reuters reports. Dmitrichenko, whose "bemused" behavior in court, the Times notes, seemed to match the characters he played, has "his own sense of justice," another dancer testified. "Pavel is emotional," he said. "You can’t not be emotional and dance the type of ballets he danced." (More Bolshoi stories.)