Bolshoi Ballet Director Sergei Filin Severely Injured in Acid Attack

gatagato · #1 ● 01-19-2013, 03:28 AM

Doctors fighting to save eyesight of former dancer after assailant threw acid in his face outside central Moscow home

The director of the Bolshoi ballet has been severely injured in an acid attack that his family and colleagues said capped weeks of threats and intimidation.

Doctors were fighting to save the eyesight of Sergei Filin, 42, after a masked assailant approached the renowned dancer outside his home in central Moscow on Thursday night and threw acid in his face. Doctors said he suffered third-degree burns to his face and neck.

The attack is the latest, and most gruesome scandal to strike Moscow's famed Bolshoi theatre. His predecessor, Gennady Yanin, was forced to step down in 2011 after a suspected rival leaked erotic photos of him online.

Filin was approached by the masked assailant as he was returning home around 11pm, reported Life News, a tabloid known for its sources inside the police and security services. He had been at an event marking what would have been the 150th birthday of legendary director Konstantin Stanislavsky, it reported. The assailant identified Filin by name before throwing acid in his face, it said.

CCTV footage showed the man running through a snow-filled car park after the lightning-fast attack.

Filin's mother, Natalia Filina, said her son had been the target of threatening phone calls for the past month and that she knew who ordered the attack. "I know who this person is and will definitely tell law enforcement agencies," Filina told Life News. "My son was threatened on the phone, particularly in the past month. He was followed. And today it all reached its peak."

Katerina Novikova, the Bolshoi's spokeswoman, said Filin's tyres had been slashed several times recently, and that his email and Facebook page had been hacked this month in order to leak information that would discredit him.

Police are investigating whether the attack was linked to Filin's job at Moscow's most famous theatre. Some dancers have complained publicly that Filin treated them unfairly.

Anatoly Iskanov, the Bolshoi's general director, said he wanted police to search for the attacker among "those who wanted to compromise the theatre". He told Channel One, a state-run television channel, that he had met Filin earlier on Thursday and they had talked about the threats against him. "He told me he felt like he was on the frontlines," Iskanov said.

Filin danced at the Bolshoi from 1988 to 2007, after which he served as artistic director at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko theatre, Moscow's second ballet company. He returned to the Bolshoi as artistic director of its ballet in March 2011.

Channel One said Filin would be sent to Belgium for further treatment.

"He's holding up, but he's in a lot of pain," Filina told the channel.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2013...in-acid-attack
http://lifenews.ru/news/109588
http://www.itar-tass.com/c1/625139.html

Faline · #2 ● 01-19-2013, 01:22 PM

Johnny Wadd · #3 ● 01-19-2013, 01:27 PM

Fucking cowardly act.Just watched a documentary on Ch4 the other day about the acid attacks in Pakistan

icheerthebull · #4 ● 01-19-2013, 02:07 PM

Originally Posted by Johnny Wadd ↗

Fucking cowardly act.Just watched a documentary on Ch4 the other day about the acid attacks in Pakistan

I agree to an extent but the ballet scene is alot like the fashion industry full of evil pedo scum. I will reserve my judgement until I get more info

Johnny Wadd · #5 ● 01-19-2013, 02:13 PM

Originally Posted by icheerthebull ↗

I agree to an extent but the ballet scene is alot like the fashion industry full of evil pedo scum. I will reserve my judgement until I get more info

I don't doubt that,personally,I'd rather be stabbed or shot.

peema · #6 ● 01-19-2013, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by icheerthebull ↗

...evil pedo scum.

**kellyhound** · #7 ● 01-20-2013, 07:11 AM

cowardly act

gatagato · #8 ● 12-04-2013, 02:51 AM

3 men sentenced in Bolshoi Ballet acid attack case

Moscow (CNN) -- Three men were convicted and sentenced Tuesday in Russia for masterminding and carrying out an acid attack on the Bolshoi Ballet's artistic director, Sergei Filin.

Star dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko was given six years in prison for masterminding the attack, while accomplice Yuri Zarutsky was sentenced to 10 years and driver Andrei Lipatov got four years, a reporter for the official Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI) who was in court told CNN.

Prosecutors at the Moscow court had asked for Dmitrichenko to be given nine years in prison, RAPSI reported earlier.

Filin was walking to his Moscow apartment in January when a masked assailant tossed sulfuric acid onto his face, leaving him severely burned and nearly blinded.

He has spent much of the past year in Germany, where doctors have been working to save his sight.

Curtain falls on Russian ballet director after tumultuous year

The case, which has been closely watched in Russia and elsewhere, has exposed the tensions and intrigues simmering below the surface at the world-renowned ballet company.

Dmitrichenko argued during his trial that he had wanted Filin to be punished in some way for failing to give him the roles he wanted; for example, by being beaten up. But, the dancer said, he did not expect Filin to be subjected to an acid attack.

The power struggle tearing apart the Bolshoi

In his evidence, Zarutsky told the court that the acid attack was his own idea and that he had not told Dmitrichenko about it.

Many fellow Bolshoi dancers signed a letter asking the judge for leniency for Dmitrichenko.

In his summary, the judge said that in his view, the attack was organized by Dmitrichenko.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/03/wo...i-acid-attack/

Azimuth · #9 ● 12-04-2013, 03:34 AM

Wtf? Those are very short sentences.

Bolshoi Ballet Director Sergei Filin Severely Injured in Acid Attack

Documenting Reality