Japan’s government has announced it will ask a court to revoke the legal status of the Unification Church after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s assassination raised questions about the group’s fundraising and recruitment tactics.
Education Minister Masahito Moriyama says the ministry proposed seeking the revocation after interviewing 170 people allegedly harmed by the church’s fundraising tactics and other problems.
He says the church failed to respond to dozens of questions during the hearings.
If its legal status is stripped, the church would lose its tax exemption privilege as a religious organisation but can still operate.
The man accused of shooting Abe at a campaign event allegedly told police he was motivated by the former prime minister’s links to the church, which he blamed for bankrupting his family.