MOSCOW — The Interfax news agency says the man accused of an acid attack on the artistic director of the Bolshoi Theater has confessed his guilt and requested that the two other defendants be exonerated.
Yuri Zarutsky is accused of accepting money from dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko and carrying out the attack on Sergei Filin. A third man, Andrei Lipatov, is accused of driving Zarutsky to and from the scene of the crime.
Interfax said Zarutsky confessed his guilt in court on Thursday, saying that he initiated the attack.
If tried as "a group acting in collusion," the men face up to 12 years in prison, as opposed to eight if they are tried individually.
"They are trying to break down the 'group' and the 'collusion,'" Filin's lawyer Tatiana Stukalova told Interfax.