Investigators have set out to inspect the vessel where the incident took place to gather evidence and interrogate witnesses, Mr. Suong Khun said. According to the lawyer, the court is intent on gathering as much information as possible from both the victims and the accused.

After all the legal procedures have run their course, the defense will be able to petition for a release on bail. A petition to this effect will be filed at the end of January, the advocate said, adding the Russian businessmen may be bailed before the trial, in late January or early February.

The trio may face a prison term of up to three years if convicted, a Russian embassy source in Cambodia has said. “The three Russians have been detained and sent to a prison in the city of Sihanoukville,” the source said. The term of their detention has been prolonged indefinitely, he added.

Polonsky and his two accomplices have been accused of inflicting bodily harm and holding people in captivity, although the three have pled not guilty.

Voice of Russia, TASS

Polonsky to seek full acquittal

Svetlana Kalmykova

Russian businessman Sergei Polonsky, who was taken into custody in Cambodia along with two other Russians, intends to seek a prosecutor’s inquiry and his complete acquittal. The lawyer of the detainees hopes that they will be released on bail in the coming weeks.

Multimillionaire Sergei Polonsky and his friends Konstantin Baglay and Alexander Karachinsky face up to three years in prison if convicted. The three were celebrating New Year’s on Cambodia’s uninhabited island of Sihanoukville when a group of servicemen from a military base on a neighboring island arrived, attracted by a huge fireworks display. The military demanded their passports. Unfortunately, the men had left the documents in their hotel on another island. When Polonsky suggested that the soldiers take him to his hotel where he would show them the passports, they responded rudely and forcibly took him to the military base.

Cambodian police claim that the detainees had threatened the sailors with a knife, which Polonsky denies. He described the incident as a “misunderstanding” provoked by the fireworks.

Polonsky, one of the most eccentric and scandalous Russian businessmen, wrote on his Facebook page after the incident that he could have walked free 15 minutes after being arrested if he had pleaded guilty, something he refused to do, insisting that he is NOT guilty. He intends to seek a prosecutor’s inquiry and full acquittal.

Russian lawyer Yanis Yuksha thinks that the Russian side should participate in the investigation.

"Let me say again that the Russian state must spread its jurisdiction to the territory of the entire world and demand the extradition of its citizens if they committed offenses abroad and punish them in accordance with the Russian law."

The prosecutor of Sihanoukville has ordered the three Russians to remain in custody for an indefinite period. Meanwhile, the attorneys are planning to file a bail plea.

 

Polonsky's lawyers to seek for his acquittal in Cambodia - diplomat

The lawyers of three Russians arrested in Cambodia will seek their complete acquittal, the 2nd secretary of Russia’s embassy in Pnomh-Penh Vladimir Shurstov told the Moscow Echo radio station Tuesday.

He said that the Cambodian municipal court had begun to consider the case and the Russian consul in Cambodia was providing support to businessman Sergei Polonsky and two other Russian citizens.

On December 31, Russian businessman Sergei Polonsky was arrested in Cambodia. According to local media he and friends imprisoned several local sailors and then forced them to jump into the sea at knifepoint. Polonsky denies all accusations

Polonsky to stay in Cambodian jail till late Jan

Three Russians, including businessman Sergei Polonsky, could be released from a Cambodian jail no earlier than the end of January, their lawyer told ITAR-TASS on the phone on Tuesday.

Mr. Polonsky was arrested on Monday along with two other Russian in the town of Sihanoukville and charged with violence and illegal detention.

The Russians are facing up to three years in prison, Russia’s consul in Cambodia, Pavel Seskanov, said.

Voice of Russia, Interfax, TASS

Russia, World, Sergei Polonsky, Society