Sergei Filin, the artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, testified in court on Wednesday.
Filin had acid thrown into his face in January over issues within the ballet company, The New York Times reports.
The artistic director, who was left nearly blind after the attack, took the witness stand for about three hours to give testimony. Judge Elena Maksimova has allowed Filin to return to Germany for continued medical treatment now that he has testified.
While on the stand, Filin recounted professional jealously, love affairs, infidelity and more, all befitting a ballet stage. He even spoke in falsetto when "playing" Bolshoi administrator Veronika Sanadze while talking about her issues over casting changes for Giselle.
Filin compared Pavel Dmitrichenko, who is accused of masterminding the attack, to Batman, saying that the dancer "suddenly" saw the dispute with Sanadze and "turned it against me." The director also said that Dmitrichenko "was collecting compromising material against me, people warned me about it." He added, "They said he was looking for my bills, my loves."
Filin also responded to a question asking if Dmitrichenko had ever threatened him and he said, "Pavel always tried to threaten me indirectly."
Pavel Dmitrichenko has denied that he concocted the attack with Yuri Zarutsky, who is accused of throwing the acid.
"I had no animosity toward Filin," Dmitrichenko testified last week. "Zarutsky committed the crime on his own." He places the blame on Zarutsky for carrying out the attack.
image: Wikimedia Commons
