TOKYO - Japan's Supreme Court has upheld a lower court order urging the controversial religious group Unification Church to disband, calling it "necessary and inevitable."
The group came under greater scrutiny for its links to ruling party politicians, especially since the killing of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe by a man who held a grudge against it.
The decision by the Third Petty Bench of the top court was made on Monday.
The Unification Church appealed the dissolution order issued by the Tokyo High Court in March, which judged that the group's donation-soliciting activities were malicious and caused victims to suffer tremendously.
The church, meanwhile, claimed at the time that the high court order was against freedom of religion guaranteed by the Constitution.
The lone shooter of Abe, Tetsuya Yamagami, claimed he targeted the former premier during an election campaign speech in 2022 because Abe's grandfather had helped introduce the Unification Church to Japan, according to investigative sources. In January this year, Yamagami was sentenced to life in prison.
