MOSCOW, December 03. /ITAR-TASS/. Moscow's Meshchansky court on Tuesday will hand down a verdict in the criminal case over attack on Bolshoi Theatre /GABT/ artistic director Sergei Filin.

The injured party's lawyer Tatyana Skulakova said "Filin will not attend the verdict reading because he is undergoing treatment for his injury at a German clinic."

During the arguments of the parties, prosecutor Yulia Shumovskaya had demanded nine years in prison for suspected attack mastermind, GABT leading soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko, and ten and six years, respectively, for perpetrator of the attack Yuri Zarutsky and driver Andrei Lipatov.

They should serve their sentences in a maximum security penitentiary, Shumovskaya said.

Filin's representatives said they believed that the defendants' guilt had been proven.

"The defendants' coordinated actions indicate that they committed the crime in collusion," Filin's lawyers said. "Filin does not think that the defendants deserve clemency and asks the court to mete out real jail terms to all of them."

They also asked the court to meet Filin's 3.5 million-ruble damages suite.

Meanwhile, the lawyer of Zarutsky who had confessed to the crime, asked the court to drop the phrase "in collusion" from the charges, as his client had told the court he had "used Dmitrichenko and Lipatov in his selfish interests."

Dmitrichenko, in his final statement, asked the judge to be impartial.

"My parents gave me a decent upbringing; I'd never go for causing the harm to health which was inflicted on Filin," Dmitrichenko said. He noted however, that he felt moral responsibility for the incident because he wished Filin to be beaten.

Yuri Zarutsky underscored his repentance. "I sincerely repent and wish to apologize to Lipatov's and Dmitrichenko's parents, because it was mean of me to involve two innocent persons in this reckless venture," he said. "I also wish to apologize to Sergei Filin who is suffering now."

Addressing the judge, he asked her for clemency acknowledging that "his greed led to one person's suffering harm to health and others' losing their freedom."

All the defendants objected to the damages sum saying it was exorbitant.

Filin was attacked in the evening of 17 January. An unidentified man splashed acid in his face.

The GABT artistic director was taken to hospital with face and eye burns and had to undergo several surgeries and long treatment. Doctors said then it would take him at least six months to convalesce, but Filin is still continuing his treatment.The attack reduced the victim's working ability at least one-third, the investigator said.

All the suspects have been in custody since March 7. They were charged with "malicious infliction of grave harm to health in collusion."

According to the investigator, Dmitrichenko resented the way Filin was running the ballet company, his castings and payroll.