A court ordered the dissolution of the Unification Church in Japan, upholding a government request for a revocation spurred by the investigation into the 2022 assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. <\/p>\n
The Tokyo District Court\u2019s revocation of the church\u2019s legal status means it will lose its tax-exempt privilege and must liquidate its assets. However, the church can still appeal the decision to higher courts. <\/p>\n
The order follows a request by Japan\u2019s Education Ministry in 2023 to dissolve the influential South Korea-based sect, citing manipulative fundraising and recruitment tactics that sowed fear among followers and harmed their families. <\/p>\n
The Japanese branch of the church had criticized the request as a serious threat to religious freedom and the human rights of its followers. <\/p>\n
The investigation into the 2022 assassination of Abe revealed decades of cozy ties between the South Korea-based church and Japan\u2019s governing Liberal Democratic Party. The church obtained legal status as a religious organization in Japan in 1968 amid an anti-communist movement supported by Abe\u2019s grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi. <\/p>\n
The man accused of killing Abe resented the church and blamed it for his family\u2019s financial troubles. <\/p>\n
The church, which officially calls itself the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, is the first religious group to face a revocation order under Japan\u2019s civil code. Two earlier case involved criminal charges – the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult, which carried out a sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, and Myokakuji group, whose executives were convicted of fraud. <\/p>\n
Japan has in place hurdles for restraining religious activities due to lessons from the prewar and wartime oppression of freedom of religion and thought. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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