Borei Keila villagers spent another day protesting yesterday – this time outside the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veteran and Youth Rehabilitation in Phnom Penh – only to be told the ministry didn’t have the power to release the 30 women and children being detained without charge in Prey Speu Correctional Centre. 

A ministry official told about 20 protesting villagers that his department was not responsible for freeing the women and children, who were detained after a protest in the capital last Wednesday.

It had been the Phnom Penh municipal and Prampi Makara district authorities that had locked up the Borei Keila protesters, so it was their responsibility to decide when they would be released, he said.

Saon Sophal, director of the social department at Phnom Penh municipality, declined to comment yesterday.

Suy Saphan, the owner of development firm Phan Imex, visited Prey Speu yesterday to offer bread and meat to the women and children.

“We are observing their exact demands in order to provide a solution for them,” she said.

Eight more Borei Keila residents remain in Prey Sar prison.