A courtroom in Tokyo on Tuesday ordered the Japanese department of the Unification Church to disband, three years after it got here below scrutiny following the assassination of the previous prime minister, Shinzo Abe.
The shooting of Mr. Abe by a person with a grudge in opposition to the church led to revelations that the perimeter non secular group had pushed members into monetary hardship to fund its donations to conservative politicians.
In a ruling that was broadly anticipated however uncommon in its severity, the courtroom agreed to a authorities request to strip the church of its authorized standing to exist, saying that it had violated legal guidelines governing non secular actions. The schooling ministry, which has oversight of spiritual teams, requested in October 2023 that the church be disbanded after figuring out that it pressured members to make donations and purchase non secular items.
The ministry collected the testimonies of some 1,550 former members who claimed to have suffered monetary damages of 20.4 billion yen, or $140 million. The church, recognized for its mass weddings, was based in South Korea by the Rev. Solar Myung Moon, who died in 2012. It has branches in scores of nations.
Consideration has fallen on the church because the killing of Mr. Abe, who was gunned down on a road throughout a marketing campaign speech. The suspect claimed that the church had bankrupted his household by forcing his mom, a member, to show over her life financial savings.
Tetsuya Yamagami, who was arrested on the scene, has admitted to the July 2022 capturing, although he’s nonetheless awaiting trial. After the assassination, it emerged that Mr. Yamagami blamed Mr. Abe, whom he perceived as supporting the church.
The revelation set off a scramble by conservative lawmakers searching for to distance themselves from the church, which has been a significant political donor.
In an inner audit, the governing Liberal Democratic Get together discovered that some 180 of its elected lawmakers, or virtually half of its total membership in Japan’s Parliament, both accepted donations or attended occasions held by the church and associated organizations. Nonetheless, the occasion’s management has maintained that it had no organizational ties to the non secular group.
With Tuesday’s courtroom determination, the federal government will now shift its efforts to “giving the utmost quantity of help to the victims,” Yoshimasa Hayashi, the chief authorities spokesman, advised reporters.
The church, which claimed some 600,000 members in Japan, is reported by native information media to have belongings price an estimated 110 billion yen. A few of that can possible be claimed by a court-appointed liquidator to be used in compensating former members.
In an announcement, the church, which modified its title in 2015 to the Household Federation for World Peace and Unification, mentioned it deliberate to enchantment the choice. For the reason that homicide of Mr. Abe, it mentioned members’ human rights have been violated and “inaccurate views of us have unfold” within the media and on social media.
In current historical past, Japan has disbanded two different non secular teams. Considered one of them was Aum Shinrikyo, the doomsday cult behind the deadly sarin gas attack on Tokyo subways in 1995. It was ordered to be damaged up a yr later.
The Unification Church has confronted anger from former members up to now. In 2009, it agreed to enhance its compliance with legal guidelines governing the conduct of spiritual teams. On Tuesday, the courtroom cited the church’s failure to fix its methods as a purpose for ordering its dissolution.
“It’s troublesome to count on enhancements after the group failed to enhance following the steering on compliance, and a scenario has been allowed to proceed that can’t be neglected,” the top choose, Kenya Suzuki, was quoted as saying by native media.
An knowledgeable on new religions mentioned the total extent of the hardships and heartbreak attributable to the church stays unknown. He mentioned many former members can not come ahead for worry of retribution in opposition to themselves or their households.
“The testimonies collected by the schooling ministry are simply the tip of the iceberg,” mentioned Hotaka Tsukada, a professor at Bunkyo College who makes a speciality of faith in society. “Many are nonetheless unable to talk out.”
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