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Police investigating professional activities of Ballet Artistic Director Sergei Filin as main version of attack on him

The criminal case is opened on charges of intentional inflicting of serious injures

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, January 18 (Itar-Tass) — The police are investigating a version related with the professional activities as the main version of an attack on Ballet Artistic Director of the Bolshoi Theatre Sergei Filin, the press service of the Moscow police department reported on Friday.

Police have opened a criminal case over the attack on Bolshoi Theatre Ballet Artistic Director Sergei Filin, the central Moscow district police department's press group told Itar-Tass.

The criminal case is opened on charges of intentional inflicting of serious injures (Part One of Article 111 of the Russian Criminal Code, which prescribes two-eight years' imprisonment for such a crime).

Police are doing everything to find the attacker, a police source said.

According to the Moscow police press service, Filin's relatives called the "02" emergency police service on Thursday night, saying he was attacked. According to the reports, an unknown person at a car parking near Building 9, Troitskaya Street in central Moscow splashed acid into Filin's face and escaped.

The theatre director with acid burns is hospitalized. He has third-degree burns of his face and eyes, Bolshoi Theatre press secretary Katerina Novikova told Itar-Tass. She has visited Filin in the hospital.

She said he was attacked at about 23:40 Moscow time on Thursday. When he was coming to his home, an unknown masked man splashed acid into his face.

Two hours before the incident, she saw Sergei at a party marking Stanislavsky's jubilee at the Chekhov Theatre, Novikova said. He is conscious. His mother and his wife are with him. Many from the theatre administration and ballet dancers have also visited Filin.

According to Novikova, there were repeated threats addressed to Filin in recent time. A few days ago, some hacked his site in the Facebook network and placed information meant to discredit the artistic director in the eyes of the Bolshoi Theatre directorate. In addition, tires of Filin's car often were punctured, and other nasty things were done against him. But, despite those things, it was hard to suppose that it would come to such a crime, she said.

The press secretary cited doctors as saying it would take Filin at least six months to recover.

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