Police Detain Suspect in Acid Attack on Filin

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: March 6, 2013 (Issue # 1749)

MOSCOW — Moscow police have detained a suspect in the January acid attack on the Bolshoi Theater’s artistic director, Sergei Filin, a statement on the police website said Tuesday.

The statement did not identify the suspect, but Interfax cited a police source as saying the suspect was not a member of the theater’s ballet troupe.

According to the tabloid Lifenews, which is known to have strong links to law enforcement agencies, investigators found the suspect by wiretapping all the phone calls made near Filin’s house around the time of the attack.

It has also been determined that the attacker had an accomplice.

The suspect was detained around 6 a.m. Tuesday in the Moscow region town of Stupino. Police are searching local places visited by the suspect and the Moscow apartment of his parents, Lifenews reported.

Filin, 42, was hospitalized with burns to his face and eyes after a masked attacker splashed acid on his face outside his apartment building on Troitskaya Ulitsa on Jan. 17.

He has undergone a number of surgeries on his face and eyes and may still need a few more, though it is not clear whether his eyesight will be fully restored.

Investigators linked the attack to Filin’s job. Filin has said he knows the identity of his assailant but will not reveal who it is because of the ongoing criminal probe.