The Unification Church in Japan was ordered dissolved by a court on Tuesday after a government request spurred by the investigation into the 2022 assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe.
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The church said it was considering an immediate appeal of the Tokyo District Court’s revocation of its legal status, which would take away its tax-exempt privilege and require liquidation of its assets.
The order followed a request by Japan’s 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.
The Japanese branch of the church had criticised the request as a serious threat to religious freedom and the human rights of its followers.
The church called the court order regrettable and unjust and said in a statement the court’s decision was based on “a wrong legal interpretation and absolutely unacceptable.”
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The investigation into Abe’s assassination revealed decades of cosy ties between the South Korea-based church and Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party. The church obtained legal status as a religious organisation in Japan in 1968 amid an anti-communist movement supported by Abe’s grandfather, former prime minister Nobusuke Kishi.