Tokyo Court May Decide on Unification Church Dissolution Tues.

Tokyo, March 22 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo District Court has told the Unification Church to come to the court on Tuesday over the request for an order to dissolve the religious group, informed sources said Saturday. 

The court is expected to present its decision on the request.

The fatal shooting of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022 shed light on the Unification Church's controversial practices, such as collecting massive donations from its followers. Abe's alleged killer told investigators that he thought the former prime minister had ties with the Unification Church, against which the accused had a grudge due to his mother being a follower.
 

After the incident, the culture ministry exercised its right to collect reports from and question the Unification Church seven times, collected evidence by interviewing more than 170 former believers and asked Tokyo District Court in October 2023 to issue an order to dissolve the religious group, formally called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. The court held four hearings behind closed doors and questioned active believers as witnesses.

The ministry said the Unification Church's followers have repeatedly committed illegal acts, such as hiding their backgrounds to solicit people to make large donations to the group by stirring up their anxiety, since around 1980 at the latest, claiming that this constituted grounds for dissolution under the religious corporation law.

On the other hand, the Unification Church refuted that the receipt of donations is part of religious activities and is not a way to acquire property through illegal acts. In January this year, the group filed with the court a claim that the evidence submitted by the ministry was fabricated.

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