Overview
- The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification filed a special appeal on March 9 seeking to overturn the Tokyo High Court’s dissolution ruling.
- The dissolution order remains in effect following the March 4 decision, which removed the group’s status as a religious corporation and led to officials’ resignations.
- A court-appointed liquidator has begun procedures to sell assets and compensate victims, a process that would halt if the Supreme Court revokes the order.
- The high court found malicious donation-soliciting practices, including impersonation, causing about ¥7.4 billion in damages to at least 506 people from 1973 to 2016.
- The church argues the ruling violates constitutionally protected freedom of religion, and the case marks Japan’s first dissolution of a religious group for Civil Code violations.