HANOI, January 31 (Itar-Tass) – The Russian Embassy in Cambodia is taking all the measures to ensure the legitimate rights of Russian citizens, namely businessman Sergei Polonsky and his friends Konstantin Baglai and Alexander Karachinsky, who were arrested in the Cambodian littoral city Sihanoukville, Russian Ambassador in Cambodia Alexander Ignatov told Itar-Tass on Thursday.
“The inquiries were conducted and all necessary measures were taken on all requests, which the arrested Russian citizens have made to the embassy,” the Russian ambassador said. The Russian consul visits Polonsky and his friends in the prison in Sihanoukville. The consul is supervising the rights of the Russian citizens to be ensured properly. “At the request of the arrested Russian citizens a doctor of the Russian embassy was assigned to them for a preventive medical examination,” the ambassador noted. He also noted that the Russian diplomats are following closely how the investigation in the criminal case is proceeding against the arrested, receiving the regular necessary information from Cambodia.
The incident, which entailed the arrest of Polonsky, Baglai and Karachinsky, broke out on December 30 onboard the ship, which was trafficking three Russian citizens to the coast after a trip on the islands. The crew of six sailors stated that Polonsky and his companions, who were drunken, in the words of the sailors, stirred up a debauch onboard the ship. The sailors testified that allegedly threatening them with the knives the Russian citizens locked them up in the hold and then made them jump in the sea. The arrested Russians strongly rejected these accusations and insist that there was an incident over misunderstanding due to the language barrier.
The reported injured parties from the actions of Polonsky and his friends revoked their lawsuits in exchange for apologies and a monetary compensation. However, according to the local laws, the criminal case opened against the Russian citizens, cannot be terminated automatically and the court should rule to terminate it after the court proceedings. Cambodia did not state, when this trial may take place, only noting that up to three months are given for the investigation according to the local laws.
The Russian businessman noted the court is dragging to pass a verdict deliberately. Polonsky believes that the Cambodian legal authorities “are seeking to present him as a drug addict and mentally disabled person” in order to confiscate his business in Russia and his island with a hotel in Cambodia.
Immediately after the convoying of the arrested Russians in the detention centre they passed the tests for alcohol or drug abuse at the moment of the incident onboard the ship, a source close to the criminal case told Itar-Tass. “All three of them had the negative results of the tests,” the source underlined.