Proclamation


Nov．9，2009
Prefectural police forces around Japan initiated investigation on spiritual sales by the Unification Church in 2007. The spiritual sales as has been clarified through civil procedures are now under criminal investigation as well as criminal justice procedure through which it is becoming evident that it is a systematic and organized fundraising scheme by the Unification Church that constitute a criminal offence and should be duly prosecuted and criminalized. For the case of Shinsei, a seal sales company in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, instead of a summary order to carry a fine, a full criminal justice procedure in public trial was initiated. In the opening session of the trial held on September 9, 2009, prosecution stated in its opening statement that sales of seals by Shinsei was not for commercial profit of the company itself, but rather, it was a part of the Unification Church's recruitment and fundraising schemes in accordance with the church's doctrine. The prosecution further stated that the church intends to take entire fortune from customers of Shinsei by intimidating and perplexing them with ancestral retributive justice, making them become followers of the church, indoctrinating them to believe that they must contribute their entire fortune to Korea through Sun Myung Moon for Restoration (万物復帰) because Japan has harmed Korea in the past. In order to substantiate this claim by the prosecution, an ex-member of the church was summoned and examined as a witness on October 5. Facing the criminal justice procedure, the Unification Church does not show sincere response nor intent to rectify its own problems. Instead, it has began to try to dodge the on-going controversy over its unlawful acts by throwing out a national and international campaign accusing parents of its members and anti-Unificationist Christian ministers for organized and systematic kidnapping and confinement of its members. The Unification Church leaders are advocating that approximately 4,000 of its members have been kidnapped, held by force, tortured, and forced to renounce their faith since 1966 in the country of Japan, a country self-proclaiming to be one of the leading countries in the world. They also vocally deplore that not even one medium has reported, and not even one police agency has investigated such kidnapping cases. Through sermons by Sun Myung Moon's fourth and seventh sons, Kook Jin Moon and Hyung Jin Moon, the Unification Church is making a very vocal appeal to the world that its members' freedom of religion has been violated by organized and systematic kidnapping and forced renunciation of faith in Japan. In these sermons, the Unification Church maliciously slanders those people including members of the National Network of Lawyers against Spiritual Sales who have been helping victims of the church. For example, in one of such sermons, photographs of lawyers i.e. members of the national network were introduced to the audience as central figures of organized illegal profit-making kidnapping and confinement. The National Network of Lawyers against Spiritual Sales has been helping to redress damages suffered by victims of the Unification Church since its foundation in 1987, and its members have never even heard of existence of such a kidnapping organization consisting of family members, Christian ministers, and lawyers who are against the Unification Church. Needless to add, there is no lawyer in the national network who has engaged in such kidnapping and/or confinement. Furthermore, no specific and/or substantial bases has never been disclosed by the Unification Church concerning the several thousands of members being kidnapped and confined systematically in an organized manner. There may be a fact that thousands of people have left the Unification Church in the past. Some of them have left the church because they had been required to fulfill extremely heavy quotas of physical and financial contributions to the church and its activities. Some of them have left the church because they came to see antisocial nature of the church through their own church activities or through discussions with their families. It is a plain fact that their withdrawal from the church is not a result of forced renunciation through kidnapping/confinement. We, members of the National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales strongly urge the government and investigating authorities to stay unaffected by the Unification Church's campaign to deflect criticism against them and to keep pursuing their criminal responsibilities with unyielding resoluteness.

Nov．9，2009

Prefectural police forces around Japan initiated investigation on spiritual sales by the Unification Church in 2007. The spiritual sales as has been clarified through civil procedures are now under criminal investigation as well as criminal justice procedure through which it is becoming evident that it is a systematic and organized fundraising scheme by the Unification Church that constitute a criminal offence and should be duly prosecuted and criminalized.

For the case of Shinsei, a seal sales company in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, instead of a summary order to carry a fine, a full criminal justice procedure in public trial was initiated. In the opening session of the trial held on September 9, 2009, prosecution stated in its opening statement that sales of seals by Shinsei was not for commercial profit of the company itself, but rather, it was a part of the Unification Church's recruitment and fundraising schemes in accordance with the church's doctrine. The prosecution further stated that the church intends to take entire fortune from customers of Shinsei by intimidating and perplexing them with ancestral retributive justice, making them become followers of the church, indoctrinating them to believe that they must contribute their entire fortune to Korea through Sun Myung Moon for Restoration (万物復帰) because Japan has harmed Korea in the past. In order to substantiate this claim by the prosecution, an ex-member of the church was summoned and examined as a witness on October 5.

Facing the criminal justice procedure, the Unification Church does not show sincere response nor intent to rectify its own problems. Instead, it has began to try to dodge the on-going controversy over its unlawful acts by throwing out a national and international campaign accusing parents of its members and anti-Unificationist Christian ministers for organized and systematic kidnapping and confinement of its members.

The Unification Church leaders are advocating that approximately 4,000 of its members have been kidnapped, held by force, tortured, and forced to renounce their faith since 1966 in the country of Japan, a country self-proclaiming to be one of the leading countries in the world. They also vocally deplore that not even one medium has reported, and not even one police agency has investigated such kidnapping cases.

Through sermons by Sun Myung Moon's fourth and seventh sons, Kook Jin Moon and Hyung Jin Moon, the Unification Church is making a very vocal appeal to the world that its members' freedom of religion has been violated by organized and systematic kidnapping and forced renunciation of faith in Japan. In these sermons, the Unification Church maliciously slanders those people including members of the National Network of Lawyers against Spiritual Sales who have been helping victims of the church. For example, in one of such sermons, photographs of lawyers i.e. members of the national network were introduced to the audience as central figures of organized illegal profit-making kidnapping and confinement.

The National Network of Lawyers against Spiritual Sales has been helping to redress damages suffered by victims of the Unification Church since its foundation in 1987, and its members have never even heard of existence of such a kidnapping organization consisting of family members, Christian ministers, and lawyers who are against the Unification Church. Needless to add, there is no lawyer in the national network who has engaged in such kidnapping and/or confinement. Furthermore, no specific and/or substantial bases has never been disclosed by the Unification Church concerning the several thousands of members being kidnapped and confined systematically in an organized manner. There may be a fact that thousands of people have left the Unification Church in the past. Some of them have left the church because they had been required to fulfill extremely heavy quotas of physical and financial contributions to the church and its activities. Some of them have left the church because they came to see antisocial nature of the church through their own church activities or through discussions with their families. It is a plain fact that their withdrawal from the church is not a result of forced renunciation through kidnapping/confinement.

We, members of the National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales strongly urge the government and investigating authorities to stay unaffected by the Unification Church's campaign to deflect criticism against them and to keep pursuing their criminal responsibilities with unyielding resoluteness.