Ballet Dancer Jailed Over Bolshoi Acid Attack Freed On Parole

Former Bolshoi ballet dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko is seen in a glass-walled cage during an appeal hearing against the verdict passed in the case of an acid attack against Bolshoi Ballet director Sergei Filin at the Moscow city court in March 2014.

A Russian ballet dancer jailed over a 2013 acid attack on the Bolshoi Theater's artistic director has been released on parole.

Pavel Dmitrichenko was sentenced to six years in prison in December 2013 after being convicted of orchestrating the attack that partially blinded Sergei Filin.

But a court in the central Ryazan region announced on June 1 that it approved the dancer's early release, saying he had demonstrated "exemplary behavior" in prison and had "fully compensated the victim for the damages incurred."

Dmitrichenko's lawyer, Sergei Kadyrov, said his client returned to Moscow on May 31.

"The truth has prevailed over falsehood," Dmitrichenko wrote on his Facebook page.

Filin's lawyer, Tatyana Stukalova, said she would appeal the ruling because she says Dmitrichenko poses a danger to her client.

Based on reporting by AFP, AP, Interfax, and TASS