Drayton Valley woman one of two Canadians freed after being detained in Cambodia
A Drayton Valley woman and another Canadian who faced charges in Cambodia of producing pornographic photos during a party were on their way home Friday after a court allowed their release.
Eden Kazoleas of Alberta and Jessica Drolet were among seven foreigners freed after being arrested last month for allegedly posting photos on social media of themselves engaged in sexually suggestive dancing.
Toronto lawyer Michael Tibollo, who has been involved with the case, said the two women were released from prison earlier in the week and prosecutors dropped all charges against them.
Kazoleas, 19, and Drolet, 26, from Ontario, were jailed for more than a week and kept in a cell with more than 45 other women, Tibollo said.
“It was a very confined space,” he said. “They barely had space to lie around or make a bed to lie on, so the conditions were not the best.”
The pair were returning to Canada with Tibollo’s daughter, Frances Tibollo, who negotiated their release, he said.
He said the women left Cambodia shortly after their release, flying to Thailand and then the Philippines before returning to Canada.
The pair were due to arrive at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport at about 6 p.m. ET on Friday and were expected to speak to reporters, Tibollo said.
Yim Srang, a court spokesman in the northwestern Cambodian province of Siem Reap, said the investigation into the case has been completed and the seven people accused were freed Wednesday. He said three other people remained in detention, but he didn’t know their names or nationalities.
The 10 people — including five from the United Kingdom, and one each from Norway, the Netherlands and New Zealand — were detained when police raided a commercially organized party at a rented villa in Siem Reap town and found people dancing at an event described as a pub-crawl. Siem Reap is near the famous Angkor Wat temple complex.
Police who conducted the raid originally detained almost 90 people, and it was unclear why they singled out 10 to remain in custody and be charged.
Police said those caught in the raid had been “dancing pornographically ” and offended Cambodian standards of morality. They face up to a year in jail if convicted.