The country’s education ministry requested the dissolution of the religious group for the harm it is alleged to have caused to its followers and their families.
A court in Tokyo has ordered the Unification church in Japan to disband, following a request by the country’s government.
The church, which is formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, came under increased scrutiny in the aftermath of the 2022 assassination of the former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The alleged assassin claims the church bankrupted his mother, and blamed Abe for his party’s association with it.
Japan’s education ministry sought the church’s dissolution in 2023, claiming that it had harmed its followers and their families through manipulative fundraising and recruitment tactics.
As part of its request, the government department submitted 5,000 documents and pieces of evidence to court, based on interviews with more than 170 people.
In its ruling on the matter, the Tokyo District Court announced on Tuesday that it was revoking the legal status of the South Korea-based religious sect, whose followers are informally known as Moonies. This name derives from that of the church’s founder, the and self-proclaimed messiah Sun Myung Moon.
Unless the group manages to successfully appeal the decision, it will lose its tax-exempt privilege and will have to liquidate its assets in Japan.
The church, which has indicated that it is considering an appeal, called Tuesday’s decision “absolutely unacceptable”, claiming the court had given “a wrong legal interpretation”.
This is the first time a religious group in Japan has been subject to a revocation order under the country’s civil code.
The Unification church, which was founded in Seoul in 1954, obtained legal status in Japan in the 1960s, a move said to have been supported by Abe’s grandfather, the former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi.
Following Abe’s assassination at a campaign rally, a spotlight was placed on the church’s ties to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
A cabinet reshuffle in 2022 by the then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida removed seven officials with links to the church, before the Economy Minister Daishiro Yamagiwa resigned over his ties to the sect.
