Russian dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko was sentenced to six years in a high-security prison on Tuesday for ordering an acid attack that nearly blinded the artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet and tarnished the reputation of the renowned theatre.
Performers at Russia's Bolshoi Theatre made a last-minute plea for leniency on Monday for a dancer accused of ordering an acid attack on its artistic director, praising his "wonderful human qualities" and saying he was incapable of such an act.
A member of punk band Pussy Riot was freed on appeal on Wednesday but a Moscow court upheld prison sentences for two others imposed over a raucous cathedral protest against Vladimir Putin, who said they had got the jail terms they deserved.
A Russian court on Monday adjourned an appeal hearing for three members of the Pussy Riot punk band against their conviction for a protest against President Vladimir Putin in a church after one of the trio sacked her lawyers.
