All news

Court hearings into appeal of assaulters on Bolshoi choreographer postponed

An official reason was the absence of one of the lawyers who had received an injury

MOSCOW, February 27. /ITAR-TASS/. Moscow City Court on Thursday has postponed hearings into an appeal against a verdict to the assaulters convicted for an attack on Bolshoi Chief Choreographer Sergei Filin last January. An official reason was the absence of one of the lawyers who had received an injury.

Last December the court found the three assaulters guilty of an attack on the Bolshoi chief choreographer. The court sentenced Bolshoi principal dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko, who organized the conspiracy against Sergei Filin, to 6 years in a maximum security prison.

Yuri Zarutsky - a masked attacker who threw a jar of acid in Filin's face as he was returning home late on January 17, was sentenced to ten years in special prison for particularly dangerous convicts. Driver Andrei Lipatov, who brought both Zarutsky and Dmitrichenko to the scene, was sentenced to four years in a maximum security prison.

Sergei Filin, 42, was left with severe burns to his eyes and face.

Nevertheless, the convicts and their lawyers challenged the verdict, declaring the verdict " unsubstantiated and illegal.” Sergei Filin assessed the verdict as fair and justified.