Prison Staff Suspended for Selling Video of Jailed Russian Investor

The head of Russian Mirax construction group Sergei Polonsky seen during the Global Investment & Finance Forum in Moscow, Russia. (Ria Novosti)

22 January 2013
Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer

PHNOM PENH - A prison staffer in the Cambodian coastal province of Preah Sihanouk will receive administrative punishment for selling a video of jailed Russian investor Sergei Polonsky to Russian media, a prison official said Monday.

Polonsky has been in jail since late December, on charges he assaulted members of a Cambodian boat crew and forced them to jump overboard after an altercation off the coast.

Mork Sophal, director of logistics at the prison, was suspended from work for three months for shooting about five minutes of video of Polonsky and two other Russians in custody, Tan Sareth, deputy warden of the provincial prison, told VOA Khmer.

Mork Sophal, who was not available for comment, had been hired to shoot the video by an unnamed Russian journalist, Tan Sareth said. It is now up to the Ministry of Interior’s prison department what will happen after his suspension, he said.

Polonsky is a well-known figure in Russia, famous as a real estate tycoon and at one time one of the richest men in Russia. He now has real estate interests on the rapidly developing coast of Preah Sihanouk