Police in Sihanoukville on Monday arrested Russian national Roman Dragomir, 39, for his alleged involvement in a violent brawl between two groups of foreigners at the Queenco Hotel & Casino in February, an official said.
“We arrested him this evening when he was preparing to go into a restaurant,” deputy provincial police chief Kol Phally said last night. Mr. Phally said Mr. Dragomir was apprehended just outside the restaurant in the Sihanoukville’s Bei commune and would be sent to the provincial court today to face charges of intentional violence.
Mr. Dragomir is at least the fourth Russian to be arrested over the February 13 fight, which police say started when a group of Eastern European men demanded a portion of profits from the Kazantip music festival, which was ultimately canceled by authorities.
Two Russians were apprehended at a rented villa the morning after the clash—which left one man with a serious stab wound— while another, Andrei Tcekhanskii, 36, was arrested in late March.
Police and witnesses have linked both Mr. Tcekhanskii and Mr. Dragomir to Russian fugitive Oleg Tikhanov, who is wanted in his home country for possession of weapons and explosives as part of a criminal syndicate and accused of ordering an attack that led to the Queenco brawl. He remains at large.
Mr. Dragomir has denied any involvement in the casino fight. “[D]uring the incident in the casino Queenco, I was in other place,” he said in April.
