The Preah Sihanouk provincial court yesterday charged two Russian nationals and a Ukrainian man for the illegal detention and torture of a Cambodian who tried to steal a mobile phone.

Court prosecutor You Tith Vathanak charged Russians Sundakov Vadym, 34, and Kulikov Alexander, 26, and Ukrainian, Anatoll Vlamirovich Krukatov, 27, with the illegal detention of 27-year-old Mom Rithy, police officials said yesterday.

“Actually, the investigating judge has already issued a detention order after the prosecutor issued charges against them, but as is procedure they have to be questioned before being taken to be jailed,” Suth Sam On, deputy chief at the police minor crime office, said yesterday.

Sam On said that the suspects were brought to court yesterday afternoon, with the prosecutor questioning the men for several hours before forwarding the case to an investigating judge who questioned the men until nightfall.

The trio was arrested on Tuesday night, after police found Rithy tied up, gagged and with his   thumbnail ripped off in a Preah Sihanouk home.

The victim, who was recently released from jail for an unknown crime, told media from his hospital bed on Wednesday that he jumped the wall of the suspects’ home to try and steal their belongings.

“When they found me they grabbed me and took my trousers off and beat me until I was unconscious,” he said, adding he was also tied up by his legs and left to hang upside down.

Local police official Nhet Phors said that two of the three suspects have confessed to the crimes, saying they tortured Rithy because he tried to steal their property.

“They admitted all offences that they did to the victim to police,” Phors said, adding the suspects appeared to be frustrated during their overnight stay in police custody.