Bolshoi ballet dancer: Not guilty of acid attack

[October 29, 2013]  MOSCOW (AP) -- A Bolshoi ballet dancer who is accused of ordering an acid attack on the company's ballet chief has pleaded not guilty.

Pavel Dmitrichenko is suspected of ordering the Jan. 17 attack on ballet artistic director Sergei Filin, which left the director with severe burns to his face and his eye.

Two other men are standing trial with Dmitrichenko, the suspected attacker and the driver who took him to the crime scene.

Russian news agencies on Tuesday quoted Dmitrichenko pleading not guilty to plotting the attack. Dmitrichenko said the alleged perpetrator, Yuri Zarutsky, was planning to send his daughter to a ballet school and was asking for his advice. The ballet dancer said he thinks highly of Filin but told Zarutsky that he disapproved of Filin's management style.

[Associated Press]

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