Dancer confesses to Bolshoi chief acid attack

PanARMENIAN.Net - A star Russian ballet dancer who most recently played the title role in "Ivan the Terrible" at the famed Bolshoi Theater has confessed to the acid attack on the theater's ballet chief, Moscow police said on Wednesday, March 6, according to AP.

Sergei Filin, the artistic director of the Bolshoi ballet, suffered severe burns to his eyes and face on Jan. 17 when a masked attacker threw a jar of sulfuric acid in his face as he returned home late at night. The 42-year-old former dancer is now undergoing treatment in Germany.

The 29-year-old ballet dancer, Pavel Dmitrichenko, who comes from a ballet family, and two men who police believe to be his accomplices have confessed to masterminding and carrying out the attack, police said in a statement.

Russian television ran police footage showing a bleary-eyed Dmitrichenko saying, "I organized that attack but not to the extent that it occurred." The Associated Press could not immediately verify whether that confession was made under duress.

Svetlana Kokotova of the Moscow police told The Associated Press that police believe that Dmitrichenko harbored "personal enmity based on his professional activity."