State Sangha Evicts Monks from Monastery in Ownership Dispute

Seven monks and 32 laymen were evicted from a monastery in Yangon on the night of June 10 in a move by the governmentbacked Buddhist clergy council, the State Sangha Maha Nayaka, to claim ownership of the property.

Five of the monks were later charged with religious offenses and were reportedly disrobed and sent to Insein Prison to await their trial, which could result in a prison sentence.

U Pyinnya Wuntha, 86, told The Irrawaddy by phone from Japan, where he was on a visit at the time of the eviction, that the State Sangha monks stormed the Maha Thanti Thukha monastery “as if they were raiding a terrorist base and took away [my] monks.”

The State Sangha has claimed ownership of the large monastery since 2002, when U Pyinnya Wuntha fell out of favor with the former military government. He said the regime granted the building and land to him in 1999, complete with legal ownership papers. —Lin Thant, Lawi Weng and Htet Naing Zaw

Movies and Politics

“The Legend of King Naresuan,” a Thai film about a late 16th-century monarch revered for defending Ayutthaya from Myanmar invaders, is screened at a “reconciliation event” organized by Thailand’s military junta in Bangkok on June 14, 2014. The regime, which seized power on May 22, has sought to restore unity to the deeply divided country through displays of patriotism and a campaign to promote “national happiness.”