Russian court cuts jail terms for Bolshoi acid attackers
AFP
March 7, 2014, 2:58 am
Former Bolshoi soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko stands inside the defendant's cage during a court hearing in Moscow, on October 22, 2013 (AFP, Kirill Kudryavtsev)
Moscow (AFP) - A Moscow appeals court on Thursday cut the sentences for former Bolshoi soloist and two accomplices over an acid attack that nearly blinded the famed company's artistic director.
Soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko had his six-year sentence in a strict-regime penal colony for the attack on artistic director Sergei Filin cut by six months, the RAPSI legal news agency reported.
The perpetrator, Yury Zarutsky, and a get-away driver Andrei Lipatov, also had their sentences reduced from 10 to nine years and four to two years respectively.
Zarutsky will be transferred from a "special regime" colony for repeat offenders to a less harsh "strict regime" colony.
The court reduced the total amount of compensation that the three men have to pay to Filin by 500,000 rubles ($13,800) to 3 million rubles.
Filin returned to work at the theatre in the autumn but is still undergoing treatment after having dozens of operations on his eyes, that were damaged by the acid.
The trial exposed bitter infighting at the Bolshoi with witnesses airing allegations of roles being handed out in exchange for sexual favours, although the motive for the Filin attack was never made fully clear.
