Suspect Held In Bolshoi Ballet Director Attack

Moscow police say they have detained a suspect in an acid attack on Sergei Filin, the Bolshoi Ballet’s artistic director, that left the former dancer battling to preserve his eyesight.

A masked attacker threw acid in Filin’s face outside his Moscow apartment in January.

The 42-year-old former principal dancer with the Bolshoi and Georgian ballet theaters spent some two weeks in a Moscow hospital getting treatment for burns to his face and having a series of surgeries on his eyes.

He was later moved to Germany for further treatment before being discharged in early February.

Moscow police said on March 5 that officers “delivered for questioning one of the suspects.”

The statement gave no other details.

The police had previously said they had only questioned witnesses in the case.

Filin has been the Bolshoi Ballet’s artistic director for nearly two years.

He is the sixth artistic director at the Bolshoi since 1995.

Colleagues suggested there was no question that the attack was related to Filin’s work, citing threats he’d received in the past.

Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, and Interfax

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