Sergei Filin appears in court & Dmitrichenko says he’s sorry

Sergei Filin, director of the Bolshoi Ballet Company, appeared in court today in Moscow to give evidence in the acid attack case, supposedly instigated by Bolshoi dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko. Filin said that he couldn't forgive the perpetrators who almost blinded him.

Dmitrichenko apologised to him, saying that it wasn't his attention to hurt him, but Filin underlined the fact that just last week in court, Dmitrichenko had “spread lies” about affairs with ballerinas of the company, in order to undermine his moral position. He said that the Bolshoi soloist was a fine dancer who worked hard, but added that he did everything possible to go against Filin's authority as director of the company.

According to RIA Novosti, Filin didn't look towards the cage in the courtroom where Dmitrichenko and the two other defendants were being held, and said that he'd done nothing to warrant the attack.

I don't forgive anybody for what happened to me. I want this to be very clear.

Filin's lawyers are asking for three-and-a-half million rubles in damages  (€80,000 – $108,000).

The judge instructed that Filin should not be photographed.

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.