Japan Asks Court to Dissolve Church Cited in Abe Shooting
The Tokyo headquarters of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, known as the Unification Church, in the Shibuya Ward of Tokyo on Oct. 13.
Photographer: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images
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Japan’s government asked a court to order the dissolution of a fringe religious group whose activities were cited as motivation in the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last year.
Top government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters Friday the motion had been filed. If approved, it would remove the legal status of the group formerly known as the Unification Church, ending its tax advantages but not preventing it from continuing operations in the country that has been a base of its support for decades.