The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday ordered the head of the Japan branch of the Unification Church — a controversial religious organization — to pay a fine of ¥100,000 for the group's refusal to answer some questions put to it by the culture ministry.
Recognizing that the group, formally called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, declined to answer questions without a valid reason, the court ordered Tomihiro Tanaka to pay the fine.
Believing that some practices involving the Unification Church met the criteria for dissolving the group, the ministry exercised its right to ask the group to submit reports and to question the group on seven separate occasions starting in November 2022.
The religious corporations law stipulates that a court can order a religious corporation to disband if the group is found to have engaged in acts that clearly violate laws and regulations and seriously harm public welfare.
The ministry sought answers from the Unification Church to over 500 questions, including those on the group's operations, donations and court cases.
As the Unification Church refused to answer over 100 questions, the ministry asked the court to fine the group.
The Unification Church has argued that the dissolution order cannot be issued on the grounds of violations of the Civil Code, and that the ministry exercising its right to question the group is illegal.
The group has claimed that its refusal to answer the ministry's questions was backed by justifiable reasons, since the questions included matters that were related to its followers' privacy, freedom of religion and pending lawsuits.
The ministry last October asked the court to order the Unification Church to dissolve.
The ministry said that the group had been engaging in wrongful acts, such as soliciting large amounts of donations by inciting anxiety among its followers, since around 1980, with the total amount of financial damage coming to around ¥20.4 billion.
The court is currently considering the dissolution request behind closed doors.
Last month, it heard from both sides for the first time.