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Subscribe to RSSBolshoi Ballet's artistic director, Sergei Filin, recalls the "unbearable pain" from January's acid attack as he leaves a Moscow hospital for treatment in Germany. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
MOSCOW — The Bolshoi Ballet's artistic director, Sergei Filin, left a Moscow hospital on Monday to have treatment in Germany after an acid attack that damaged his eyes and face.
Wearing dark glasses but saying he felt well, the 42-year-old said before checking out of the hospital that he knew who was behind last month's attack and made clear he believed it was linked to his work at Russia's prestigious Bolshoi Theater.
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"I feel well, I'd even say great, if only my eyes could see a bit better. But I can say I feel well," he told reporters as he left, wearing a netted bandage across the lower part of his face.
Filin told Russian state television about the agony he experienced after the attack, which occurred as he was walking home at night from the Bolshoi on Jan. 17. "I fell on my face in the snow and began to rub snow in my face and eyes," he said.
"I was in terrible, unbearable pain."
He said he lay in the empty street in front of his apartment building for 20 minutes after the attack, pressing his face into the snow, until he caught the attention of a security guard who called an ambulance.
Filin also told the television crew before leaving the hospital that he forgave his masked attacker, who splashed acid in his face outside his Moscow apartment.
Asked if he knew who had attacked him, he said in the television interview: "Every person has an organ called a heart, and my heart knows who did it, and in my soul I have an answer to that question."
Filin had been one of the most talked-about figures in Russia as head of the ballet for nearly two years when he was attacked. He said the attack followed repeated threats and may have been motivated by rivalry or resentment.
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I wish him healing and hope that his sight improves.
Me too, what a horrific thing to go through... Man, people are effed up. I couldn't imagine ever doing something like that to another person... no matter how much I disliked them.
What a tragic and cruel thing Sergei has had to suffer. Let's hope that they can restore his sight and that he recovers well.
Let's hope that the twisted mind behind this monstrous act is caught and severely punished.
i dunno this guy from a hole in the ground.... but..if he's a simon cowl type ....then he can't be 100% free of responsibility... having said that.. if he's not... then... sorry man!
all I can say is wow! reading a post like that. What a schmuck you must be
Violent people do violent acts. It doesn't matter what tool they use to do it. How sad that we can't live and work together without tragedies like this invading our everyday existence. Best wished to Sergei, may he heal well.
What can a ballet guy do to piss someone off that bad? What next - kindergarten teachers facing off in a row over disputes in teaching material?
We've all become pretty sick lately. We're all doing it, thinking about it, planning it, or reading about it, and I think we're all becoming smaller because of it.
Only man does such evil to man. The terrible things we do to each other and call ourselves civilized.
We have to remember that there are two sides to every story. Everyone, no matter the person, has felt anger towards another that led them to outrage and acts of evil or thoughts of such. Whoever did this, though wrong in their actions, obviously did it for revenge.
Don't forget, there was a reason that the attacker hated Sergei so much. He's famous for his harsh treatment of performers and has been accused of favoritism and acts of evil himself. The attacker should have let Karma do it's job, but instead took it on themselves to get revenge. Not saying it's right, just that this kind of motivation is rooted deeply in something that Sergei isn't publicizing, especially if he knows who did it.
Two sides to every story, it's important to consider before we judge.