Unification Church Reaches 1st Donation Refund Settlements
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Tokyo, Oct. 2 (Jiji Press)–The first settlements have been reached in petitions filed by former followers of the Unification Church demanding refunds of donations, lawyers for the ex-followers said Thursday.
The settlements between the controversial religious group, formally called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, and three former followers were reached at Tokyo District Court. The group is set to pay a total of more than 50 million yen.
According to the team of lawyers, the three are women in their 80s who live in Hokkaido, northernmost Japan, Tokyo and the Chugoku western Japan region, respectively. They are believed to have lost about 70 million yen in total through purchases of seals and pots in addition to donations.
The district court proposed that the religious group refund the full amount of money it was confirmed to have received, according to the lawyers.
Former followers began filing for court mediation in July 2023, and 194 people, including the three followers who reached settlements, have so far demanded a total of roughly 5.9 billion yen in refunds.
Content retrieved from: https://www.nippon.com/en/news/yjj2025100200726/.
