Bolshoi Ballet soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko has been jailed for six years for organising an acid attack on the company's artistic director.
Sulphuric acid was thrown in the face of Sergei Filin outside his Moscow flat in January this year, seriously damaging his eyesight. He has since undergone more than 20 operations to save his eyesight.
Pavel Dmitrichenko admitted he wanted Bolshoi Ballet director Sergei Filin 'roughed up'
Dmitrichenko admitted he wanted Mr Filin "roughed up" but denied wanting acid used in any attack. He was arrested a few weeks after the incident.
The twenty-nine-year-old was on trial with two other defendants; former convict Yuri Zarutsky, who admitted throwing the acid and Andrei Lipatov, who drove Zarutsky to and from the scene of the attack outside Mr Filin's Moscow flat.
Prosecutors had previously called for a nine-year sentence for Dmitrichenko.
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After his arrest, he was shown confessing to the crime on Russian television. With large black rings under his eyes, hollowed cheeks and wearing a striped top and fur-lined parka, Dmitrichenko says to the camera: “Yes, it was me who organised this attack but not to the extent that it happened."
Dmitrichenko, who had been with the troupe since 2002, was due to appear at the Bolshoi in "Sleeping Beauty" where he played Bluebird when he was arrested. He was a leading soloist, but not one of the six most senior dancers at the company, and the case brought the bitter in-fighting at the Bolshoi to light.
The dancer had admitted he was angry at the limited role given to his-then girlfriend and fellow dancer Angelina Vorontsova at the company, the Independent reported.
Mr Filin gave evidence at the trial where he described the attack.
"The pain was immense and instant," he said.
"It had been a beautiful winter night: silent, white, great drifts of snow falling upon snow. I began scooping up handfuls of it and pressing them into my eyes and cheeks to relieve the agony."