TOKYO, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) — Japan’s schooling and tradition ministry introduced on Thursday its choice to hunt a court docket order to disband the Unification Church.
The transfer got here after a months-long probe into the controversial non secular group over alleged malicious practices together with soliciting financially ruinous donations from members.
The Japanese authorities is gearing as much as provoke dissolution proceedings, with a request anticipated to be filed as early as Friday, after amassing opinions at a gathering of a spiritual group council inside the Cultural Affairs Agency, attended by tradition minister Masahito Moriyama, in response to native media stories.
Based on its survey, the tradition ministry concluded the group’s actions are unlawful and considerably dangerous to public welfare, public broadcaster NHK reported.
The Tokyo District Court is more likely to make a closing judgment based mostly on the proof submitted by the federal government concerning the group, formally often known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, Kyodo News mentioned.
If the court docket order is granted, the group, established in South Korea in 1954, would lose its standing as a spiritual company in Japan and be disadvantaged of tax advantages, however would nonetheless be allowed to conduct non secular actions.
The Unification Church has lengthy been criticized for encouraging its followers to make exorbitant donations within the type of “spiritual sales” in return for “karmic benefits.”
It additionally witnessed intensified scrutiny after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was fatally shot throughout an election marketing campaign speech final 12 months over his perceived hyperlinks to the group.
The assailant, Tetsuya Yamagami, allegedly held a grudge towards the group for financially ruining his household by soliciting enormous quantities of cash in donations from his mom and claimed this factored into his motive for assassinating Abe.