More than 300 performers of Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater have come out in defense of a top dancer charged with masterminding an acid attack on the troupe’s artistic director.
Pavel Dmitrichenko initially admitted to orginizing the attack but later said he never intended for acid to be used.
The Bolshoi cast, in an open letter to President Vladimir Putin and the government, said the “very idea” that Dmitrichenko ordered the brutal attack on Sergei Filin, the Bolshoi artistic director, seemed “absurd.”
They said conclusions made by investigators seemed “premature,” the evidence “unconvincing,” and Dmitrichenko’s confession “the result of strong pressure.”
Filin is recovering from serious eye and face burns suffered when an attacker threw acid in his face on January 17.
Dmitrichenko and two other suspects were arrested last week.