Two union leaders were summonsed and questioned by a municipal court prosecutor yesterday over allegations they illegally detained the boss of a packaging factory in Por Sen Chey district’s Choam Chao commune during a strike.

According to Phnom Penh Municipal Court deputy prosecutor Ek Chheng Huoth, Sorn Bora, the chief of the production department at Harta Packaging Industry and president of the Cambodian Friends Union, and Phann Moeung, deputy president of the same union, illegally detained Siva Kuwah, a Chinese national, on February 11.

Chheng Huoth said yesterday that he had yet to decide whether they would be charged and that he wished to question them further.

Lieutenant Colonel Yim Sarann of the Por Sen Chey district police said the pair had been sued by Kuwah for inciting more than 300 employees to strike and detain their boss.

“They surrounded the factory, blocked it and did not allow the boss to leave,” he said. “They surrounded the factory for about a week.”

Bora yesterday denied the allegations, saying that, in fact, Kuwah had been protected by police throughout the strike.

Neither Kuwah nor his lawyer could be reached.