A Moscow court sentenced a Bolshoi Theater dancer to six years in a penal colony after he reportedly organized an acid attack on the artistic director of the troupe.
Pavel V. Dmitrichenko, an ex-soloist at the theater, allegedly ordered to hit Sergei Filin "on the nose" using homemade acid that almost left the group's leader blind.
"We had hoped it would be less," Dmitrichenko's father Vitaly told the New York Times as he exited the court room. The guilty verdict blew the lid off the case as one of the most public scandals the Bolshoi has faced to date.
Prosecutors originally pushed for a 9-year sentencing, the Times reported, since Dmitrichenko was reportedly angry that Filin didn't cast him or his wife Anzhelina Vorontsova in a few main roles.
Dmitrichenko admitted in court that he'd commissioned Yuri Zarutsky to hit Filin using homemade acid. Zarutsky was given a 10-year sentence for conspiracy to cause bodily harm, the Times reported.
The accused getaway driver, Andrei Lipatov, received four years behind bars, instead of the six year term prosecutors had initially suggested.
The case has divided Bolshoi's dancers, who have chosen to side with either Filin or Dmitrichenko. Filin's supporters have cast Dmitrichenko as a malicious, resentful man, while those who back the dancer described Filin as a "tyrant" who often pursued romantic relationships with members of the group.
"Pavel is emotional," Bolshoi principal Artem Ovcharenko testified while on the stand, adding that Dmitrichenko followed "his own sense of justice."
While the court read Dmitrichenko's verdict on Tuesday, the New York Times reported that he remained silent, nodded his head, licked his lips and looked downward.
