MOSCOW, March 4 (RAPSI) – Driver Andrei Lipatov, who had been convicted and sentenced for his role in an attack on artistic director of Russia's Bolshoi Ballet Sergei Filin, was released on Wednesday, his attorney Sergei Zhorin told RAPSI.
Lipatov has not filed a request for parole. He served full sentence and was released, Zhorin said.
Sergei Filin sustained third-degree burns to his face and eyes in the acid attack in January 2013.
On December 3, 2013, the leading Bolshoi Ballet soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko was convicted for masterminding the attack and sentenced by the Meschansky District Court of Moscow to 6 years in prison. The court ruled that other defendants in the trial – former convict Yuri Zarutsky, who carried out the attack, and driver Andrei Lipatov – only did the jobs that had been assigned to them by Dmitrichenko.
Zarutsky received a 10-year sentence, while Lipatov was sentenced to four years in jail. Dmitrichenko and Lipatov had pleaded not guilty, while Zarutsky claimed he planned and carried out the attack on his own.
The court also ordered the defendants to pay Filin 3.5 million rubles ($56,120) in compensation for medical costs and moral damage.
In March 2014, the Moscow City Court mitigated the sentence of Dmitrichenko from 6 to five 5.5 years in prison. The sentence of Lipatov was reduced from 4 to 2 years. Zarutsky was ordered to serve 9 years in a maximum security penal colony.