Japan court orders dissolution of church linked to ex-PM Shinzo Abe’s murder
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The Unification Church, now formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, confirmed that the court had ordered it to disband on March 25.
PHOTO: AFP
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TOKYO – A Tokyo court ordered the dissolution of a religious group whose fund-raising methods and ties with ruling party politicians came under scrutiny following the assassination of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe
A spokesperson for the Unification Church, now formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, confirmed that the court had ordered it to disband on March 25.
The Tokyo district court’s decision strips the group of its tax-free status as a religious corporation, but does not prevent it from operating in Japan, which has been a major base of its support for decades.
The church has the right to appeal against the ruling.
“We have to say that this ruling was based on an incorrect interpretation of the law and is totally unacceptable to this organisation,” a statement on the church’s website said.
Known for its mass weddings and members informally called “Moonies”, the group came under the spotlight after Mr Abe’s killer told police he was motivated by the former premier’s links to the church
The incident prompted the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to launch an internal investigation that found almost half of its lawmakers had connections with the church.
The party has since struggled to restore its image and lost its majority in an election last October.
The Ministry of Education and Culture filed a request seeking the disbanding of the church in October 2023, claiming that the organisation had limited the free will of its followers to coerce them into donating money.
The group has a list of court rulings against it for its fund-raising methods.
“Our claims were accepted,” Minister of Education Toshiko Abe said in a statement.
The March 25 dissolution order would be the third in Japan since World War II.
Aum Shinrikyo, the death cult that carried out a lethal poison gas attack on the Tokyo subway 30 years ago, was stripped of its status as a religious legal entity in 1995.
The former Unification Church, based in South Korea, is fighting back, saying it has made structural changes, and the legal conditions necessary for a religious organisation to be dissolved do not apply. BLOOMBERG
