Dmitrichenko pleads not guilty in the first day of Bolshoi acid attack case

The first full hearing in the case of the acid attack on artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, Sergei Filin, was held in Moscow today, reported Izvestia.

The defendants arrived with guards who were without masks. Last week Bolshoi soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko, who is accused of instigating the crime, claimed to have been beaten-up by masked guards after the preliminary court hearing. Sergei Filin was not present as he is undergoing further treatment in Germany for his eyesight.

The criminal investigators believe that Dmitrichenko “entered into a criminal conspiracy with Yuri Zarutsky and Andrey Lipatov, aiming at intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm on Filin”. They state that the motive was his discontentment with the way Filin was running the Bolshoi Ballet with the “assignment of roles, and distribution of fees, among the artists of the company”.

In contrary to what Dmitrichenko had originally claimed was an offhand comment, taken seriously by the two who carried out the attack, the investigators said it was premeditated.

In order to implement the plan Pavel Dmitrichenko… no later than 12 October 2012 purchased mobile phones and SIM cards. On the evening of 12 October all three defendants inspected the future crime scene. On 22 November Zarutsky bought battery fluid which, on an unknown date before 16 January, was evaporated to produce sulfuric acid, and poured into a glass jar.

Andrey Lipatov and Pavel Dmitrichenko pleaded not guilty, while Yuri Zarutsky partially admitted guilt.

Dmitrichenko said that he didn't collude with Zarutsky or Lipatov, and that he did not purchase phones and SIM cards registered to non-existent people. He admitted that he had recounted to Zarutsky his feelings about Filin, but says that he was unaware of Zarutsy's criminal record.

Court documents seem to show that there is evidence that Filin had intimate relationships with a number of the young dancers of the company, and Olga Smirnova's name, among others, was mentioned. Dmitrichenko said that he hoped these documents could be used in the case to underline the immorality of Sergei Filin.

The trial is set to continue on 31 October.

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.