MOSCOW — A Bolshoi ballet dancer who is accused of ordering an acid attack on the company's ballet chief pleaded innocent Tuesday as his trial began in Moscow.
Dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko is suspected of ordering the Jan. 17 attack on ballet artistic director Sergei Filin, which left Filin with severe burns to his face and his eyes, impairing his vision.
Dmitrichenko entered his plea as a Russian judge began hearing the trial into the attack that has exposed a power struggle at the famous Russian theater.
Two other men on trial with the ballet dancer are Yuri Zarutsky, the suspected attacker, and Andrei Lipatov, the driver who purportedly took Zarutsky to the crime scene.