Bolshoi dancer jailed for acid attack released

 The Bolshoi ballet dancer who masterminded an acid attack on the troupe's artistic director has been released on parole, his lawyer told Russian media on Tuesday.  

Bolshoi soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko, who was sentenced to six years in prison in 2013 for orchestrating an acid attack on artistic director Sergei Filin, has been granted parole and is already "back at home in Moscow," his lawyer Sergei Kadyrov told TASS news agency. 

Kadyrov did not specify when his client, who had been serving his sentence in a prison camp in the central Ryazan region, had been released.

"Thank you to all those who supported me," Dmitrichenko wrote on his Facebook page. "The truth has prevailed over falsehood."

Filin was left scarred and partially blind after he was doused with acid on the order of Dmitrichenko in January 2013 in an attack that rocked the dance world.

The trial of Filin's attackers uncovered bitter backstage rivalries and jaw-dropping allegations that Filin handed out roles in exchange for money and sexual favours.

Dmitrichenko, 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 hearing his case in 2013 said.

The soloist, according to the court, was upset that his ex-girlfriend, the up-and-coming soloist Anzhelina Vorontsova, had been passed over for top roles.

The Bolshoi Theatre announced last year that it was parting ways with Filin, replacing him in October with La Scala's Makhar Vaziev.

Source: AFP