The Tokyo District Court held its first hearing to decide whether to grant a Japanese government request that the group widely known as the Unification Church should be stripped of its legal status as a religious corporation.

The proceedings that started on Thursday follow the filing by the Education and Culture Ministry in October last year requesting a court order to disband the group.

The ministry took the legal action based on interviews with more than 170 people who say they or their families have been victimized by the group.

In asking for the court order, the ministry stated that the group's practice of collecting exorbitant donations from its members, often by exploiting fears about their future, constitutes an unlawful conduct under the Civil Code.
The hearing on Thursday was held behind closed doors. According to the group, the head of its Japanese branch, Tanaka Tomihiro, other officials, and lawyers attended.

The group said Tanaka argued that the Education Ministry's claim about the group being an organization aimed at raising funds is clearly wrong. He stated that receiving donations is only part of its religious activity, and it no longer conducts recruitment activities by hiding its true identity. Tanaka asked the court for a fair judgment.

Representatives from the group asked an education ministry representative to specify what laws the ministry says the group has violated. In response, the ministry official reiterated that unlawful conduct under the Civil Code is a violation of law.

As for the schedule for additional hearings, the representatives from the group argued that since the government has spent a year to collect its evidence against the group, they should be given enough time to make counter-arguments. The court reportedly showed no schedule for the future.

This is the third time for a Japanese government ministry or agency to ask for a court order to strip a religious group of its tax-exempt legal status as a religious corporation that has violated the law. One of the two previous cases involved the Aum Shinrikyo cult in 1995.