Tokyo court orders former Unification Church to pay damages over large donations
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The Tokyo High Court has ordered a religious group widely known as the Unification Church to pay damages in a case involving a former follower who made large donations to the group. The court ruled that the group’s solicitation of the donations was illegal.
The court on Thursday ordered the group, now called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, to pay more than 64 million yen, or about 412,000 dollars, in compensation.
The former follower, who died four years ago at the age of 91, donated a total of more than 100 million yen, or about 640,000 dollars, to the group from 2005 through 2010.
She signed a written pledge in 2015, at the age of 86, stating that she would not seek a refund.
Her daughter sought compensation of more than 65 million yen from the group. The daughter said her mother was forced to make large donations through the group’s illegal solicitation.
After the district and high courts dismissed the claim, the Supreme Court ruled the written pledge invalid and ordered the high court to reexamine the case. It pointed out that the former follower was diagnosed with dementia about six months after submitting the document.
In Thursday’s ruling, the presiding judge said that as a result of the large donations, the woman was forced to live on about 90,000 yen, or around 580 dollars, a month and borrow money from acquaintances.
She went on to say that the situation caused the woman significant difficulties in maintaining her livelihood.
The judge pointed out that the group’s solicitation of donations went beyond what is considered socially acceptable and was illegal.
This is the first ruling to invalidate such a written pledge and find the group’s solicitation of donations illegal. The ruling is expected to affect efforts to seek compensation from the group.
Content retrieved from: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20251218_17/.
