Tokyo – The Unification Church in Japan was ordered by a court on Tuesday after a government request stimulated by the investigation of the 2022 murder of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The South Korean headquarters said it was considering an immediate appeal of the revocation of its legal status of the Tokyo District Court of its legal status, which would eliminate its exempt tax privilege and require liquidation of its assets.
The order followed a request from the Ministry of Education of Japan in 2023 to dissolve the influential sect, citing tactics manipulators of fundraising and recruitment that sowed fear among the followers and damaged their families.
In the ruling, the court said that Church problems were extensive and continuous, and that a dissolution order was necessary because it is not likely to be voluntarily reform, according to NHK Television.
“We believe that our statements were accepted,” said the chief secretary of the Cabinet, Yoshimasa Hayashi, to the journalists, adding that the government would continue the efforts to support the victims of the Church.
The Japanese branch of the Church had criticized the application as a serious threat to the religious freedom and human rights of its followers.
The Church described the unfortunate and unfair court order and said in a statement that the Court’s decision was based on “an incorrect and absolutely unacceptable legal interpretation.”
Tomihiro Tanaka, president of the Japanese branch of the Church, accused the government of “manufacturing damage.” The church “is not a malicious group that should dissolve,” a press conference said on Tuesday.
The research on Abe’s murder revealed links for decades between the Church and the government of the Democratic Liberal Party of Japan. The Church obtained legal status as a religious organization in Japan in the 1960s during an anti -communist movement supported by Abe’s grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi.
The man accused of killing Abe was bothered in the Church and blamed her for the financial problems of his family.
The Church, which is officially called the Family Federation for Peace and Unification of the world, is the first religious group subject to an order of revocation based on violations of the Civil Code of Japan. Two previous cases involved criminal charges: the cult Aum Shinrikyo Doomsday, which carried out a nervous gas attack from Sarin to the Tokyo Metro system, and the Myokakuji group, whose executives were convicted of fraud.
To seek the dissolution of the Church, the Ministry of Education had presented 5,000 documents and trials to the Court, based on interviews with more than 170 people.
The Church tried to direct the decision -making of its followers, using manipulative tactics, making them buy expensive goods and donating beyond their financial capacity and causing fear and damage to them and their families, seriously diverting from the law on religious groups, officials and experts.
The cultural affairs agency said that the agreements reached in an external court exceeded 20 billion yen ($ 132 million) and involved more than 1,500 people.
The lawyers who represent those who seek damage of the Church welcomed the judicial decision as an important first step towards repair.
“We must follow our effort to achieve reparation and prevent future problems,” said Chief Lawyer Susumu Murakoshi to journalists, demanding that the Church accept the order of dissolution and offer an apology and compensation to all victims.
The Church was founded in Seoul in 1954 by the late Reverend Sun Myung Moon, the self -proclaimed Messiah that preached new interpretations of the Bible and the conservative values systems and family -oriented.
Nicknamed the “Moonies”, after its founder, the Church developed relations with conservative world leaders, including President Donald Trump, as well as his predecessors Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George Hw Bush.
The Church faced accusations in the seventies and eighties of using tortuous and adherent recruitment tactics to brainwashing to convert huge portions of their salaries to the moon. In Japan, the group has faced demands to offer “spiritual merchandise” that supposedly caused members to buy art and jewelry or sell their real estate to generate donations for the Church.
The Church has recognized excessive donations, but says that the problem has decreased since the group increased compliance in 2009.
Experts say that Japanese followers must pay for the sins committed by their ancestors during the colonial domain of Japan in 1910-1945 of the Korean Peninsula, and that most of the world’s world funds come from Japan.
