Photo/Illutration Susumu Murakoshi, second from right, the head of the Lawyers from Across Japan for the Victims of the Unification Church, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Sept. 4. (Ryuichi Kitano)

Lawyers representing victims of the Unification Church called upon the government to disband the religious organization and urged a court to issue a dissolution order.

“The church has clearly been conducting illegal acts systematically and continuously, which meets the requirements for a dissolution order,” Susumu Murakoshi, the head of the Lawyers from Across Japan for the Victims of the Unification Church, said at a news conference on Sept. 4. 

“We would like the government to promptly file the request and the court to issue the order,” he said.

The government is preparing to ask the Tokyo District Court to issue a dissolution order against the organization formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.

Masaki Kito, the deputy head of the lawyers’ group, said that the church could try to evade asset seizure in preparation for a dissolution order.

“For the relief of victims, we hope that the government will make provisions to preserve the church’s assets as soon as possible,” he said.

The government has already exercised its right to ask questions and request reports on the church under the Religious Corporations Law.

The Unification Church, however, has failed to answer numerous questions related to its alleged shady business practices. So, the government plans to soon call on the district court to levy a fine against the church.

"If the fine is imposed, it would provide evidence of the church's legal violations and could strengthen the case to justify dissolving the church,” said Katsuomi Abe, the deputy secretary-general of the lawyers’ group.

At the news conference, the lawyers said that they had requested collective negotiations with the church on behalf of 15 victims.

They are seeking compensation for former church followers and their relatives, who say they were coerced into purchasing expensive items for, and making large donations to, the Unification Church.

This is the fifth time that the lawyers made such a request.

They said the church had not responded sincerely to the previous four requests, so they filed for mediation with the district court on July 31.

A public relations official for the Unification Church said that “we would like to refrain from commenting at this stage” about the potential fine and request for dissolution.

The church has come under fire since the murder of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022. The suspect told investigators that his mother's large donations to the church ruined his family financially and he blamed Abe for promoting the church. 

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