Moscow court cuts prison sentences for Bolshoi dancer and 2 accomplices in acid attack

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FILE - In this Tuesday Sept. 17, 2013 file photo, artistic director of the Bolshoi ballet Sergei Filin attends a meeting of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Russia. A Moscow appeals court has lightened the prison sentences handed down to a Bolshoi dancer and two accomplices for their roles in an acid attack on the ballet’s artistic director. Dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko was convicted in December of organizing the attack and sentenced to six years in prison. The Moscow City Court on Thursday, March 6, 2014, reduced his sentence by six months. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, file)

MOSCOW – A Moscow appeals court has lightened the prison sentences of a Bolshoi dancer and two accomplices for their roles in an acid attack on the ballet’s artistic director.

Sergei Filin lost much of his sight as a result of the January 2012 attack.

Dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko was convicted in December of organizing the attack and sentenced to six years in prison. The Moscow City Court on Thursday reduced his sentence by six months.

The sentence for Yuri Zarutsky, who carried out the attack, was cut to nine years instead of 10, while his driver, Andrei Lipatov, had his four-year sentence cut in half.

Their trial often focused less on the crime than on Filin’s controversial role in the famous theatre, where infighting has raged for years.

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