BANGKOK, January 9 (RIA Novosti) – Cambodian authorities launched on Wednesday an investigation into allegations that Russian real estate magnate Sergei Polonsky, together with two other Russians, attacked a group of sailors off the Cambodian coast in late December, a Russian Embassy official in Cambodia told RIA Novosti.

Polonsky, Konstantin Baglay and Alexander Karachinsky were arrested on December 30 for allegedly attacking six local sailors on a boat that ferried them from a resort island to the mainland, threatening the sailors with a knife and locking them in a cabin.

The official, Pavel Seskanov, added that Cambodian police will question the three men as well as the victims of the alleged assault. According to Seskanov, the men have been charged with false imprisonment and inflicting or threatening injury.

If convicted, Polonsky, Baglay and Karachinsky face up to three years in prison. All claim to be innocent.

Polonsky had previously made headlines when Russian tycoon Alexander Lebedev punched him in the face during a television talk show in 2011.

Lebedev was charged with hooliganism over the incident and faces a jail term of up to two years if convicted. He claims the charges are politically motivated in response to his opposition to the Kremlin.