Paul Tep Im Sotha
Paul Tep Im Sotha Samath was a Cambodian Roman Catholic priest and the first apostolic prefect of Battambang. He was the second native Cambodian to be ordained a priest, after Simon Chhem Yen, in 1959.
Tep Im was raised by his mother to be a Catholic, and at the young age began to be sent to various schools abroad, such as in Vietnam, France, and Italy. After his ordination at the Notre-Dame de Paris, Tep Im took further theological studies in Rome. However, growing concerns for his country's problems as well as a decisive conversation with American bishop Fulton Sheen would lead him to decide against a monastic life and return to Cambodia by August 1962. Upon the establishment of the Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang, Tep Im was installed as its apostolic prefect on September 26, 1968, a position he remained in up to his death under the Khmer Rouge regime in early May 1975.
Tep Im has been described by historian Milton Osborne as a priest with remarkable understanding of both the Catholic faith and Cambodian society. In June 2015, the Catholic Church officially opened an inquiry into Tep Im's presumed martyrdom, alongside others such as Joseph Chhmar Salas who died during the Cambodian genocide.
