Society

Tokyo Court Orders Dissolution of Unification Church

TOKYO, Mar 26 (News On Japan) - The Tokyo District Court on March 25th ordered the dissolution of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, formerly known as the Unification Church, following a request from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

The court cited the Religious Corporations Act as the legal basis for its decision, stating that there were at least 1,500 victims and total damages of approximately 20.4 billion yen from coerced donations, calling it "an unprecedented scale of harm." The ruling also noted that the damage had continued until recently, and the group’s response had been inadequate, concluding that stripping the group of its legal status was the only effective measure. This marks the third time a religious corporation has received a dissolution order due to legal violations, following similar cases involving Aum Shinrikyo. However, this is the first time a court has based such a decision on civil law violations, specifically illegal acts such as manipulative fundraising.

Source: Kyodo

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