Venerable Sang Rithy, wearing a black mask, marches with other monks and activists in Battambang on 10 July 2024.

A monk in Battambang province was expelled from his pagoda yesterday, several days after he participated in a peaceful march to mark the 8th anniversary of Kem Ley’s death.

Venerable Sang Rithy was expelled by the pagoda committee of Battambang city’s Wat Damrei Sorwas on the evening of 15 July. The monk is currently residing at another pagoda in the city.

Venerable Rithy participated in a march with other monks and youth activists on 10 July to mark the anniversary of the 2016 shooting of social researcher and commentator Kem Ley. The group held banners of Kem Ley and other prominent murdered activists and called for the release of the recently imprisoned Mother Nature environmental activists. Authorities initially attempted to block the peaceful assembly, but participants continued the march, ending at the Independence Monument in the center of the city.

This expulsion follows the arrest and defrocking of Venerable Soy Sat in March 2023, after the monk marched from Phnom Penh to Poipet to call for social change. One of Venerable Soy Sat’s seven demands was that monks advocating for social change not be expelled from pagodas.