SRP officials to visit villagers in Svay Rieng jail

Monday, 22 March 2010
Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post

AROUND 30 lawmakers and senior officials from the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) will pay a visit on Wednesday to two villagers jailed in Svay Rieng province for the destruction of border demarcation posts. It was reported last week that the pair were suffering from a lack of food and medical care.

SRP spokesman Yim Sovann said Sunday that a doctor from the SRP will examine the two jailed villagers and bring them medicine.

“We have received permission from prison officials for the visit. Only five people are allowed to enter the prison and can visit only about 30 minutes,” he said.

“We need to ensure that they are safe, and we continue to send the message to the world about their bravery, because the conviction against them was not fair.”

However, Ken Saveun, the chief of Svay Rieng provincial prison, said Sunday that he was not aware of the plan to visit the prisoners.

“Until today, I’m not aware about the visit to the prison organised by the opposition party lawmakers,” he said.

On January 26, Svay Rieng provincial court sentenced Meas Srey, 39, and Prum Chea, 41, to one year in prison for uprooting six temporary border markers in Chantrea district in October. SRP president Sam Rainsy, currently in France, received a two-year sentence for his role in the border incident.

Last week, the two villagers began complaining of health problems and what they described as the lack of medical care inside the prison.

Meanwhile, members of a parliamentary delegation from the European Union met last week with SRP officials to examine the state of politics in the country. “We had a reasonable dialogue and wanted to promote further dialogue between the government and the opposition,” Werner Langen, the head of the delegation, said Friday.