Farmer in Kochi Prefecture, Japan, says Unification Church official urged him to stop speaking to media

A farmer in Kochi Prefecture who blames the Unification Church for the breakup of his family says a senior church official visited his home to tell him to stop speaking to the media. Tatsuo Hashida, 64, said Hideyuki Teshigawara, a church leader, came to the house and would not leave even after a phone call to the police was made.

Hashida quoted Teshigawara as saying, “I don’t want you to be on the mass media anymore.” Hashida said he was shaken by the visit, but that it made him angrier and more determined to speak publicly about the church’s activities, which he described as dubious.

Hashida held a news conference in Tokyo on Oct. 18 to describe Teshigawara’s conduct and to repeat his account that his wife’s large donations to the church ruined the family. Katsuomi Abe, a member of the National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales who represents Hashida, sent a protest letter to the organization the same day. The letter said the visit was made with the “intention to silence the voice of a person who is going to speak about serious damage, and it is unforgivable.”

Hashida attended an Oct. 12 hearing about the church, jointly held by opposition parties. He has told news media that he and his wife divorced about nine years ago, mainly because of her large donations to the religious group. After the divorce, their oldest son lived with his mother. Hashida said the son killed himself about two years ago.

A lawyer representing Hashida said the religious group caused the family about 100 million yen ($670,500) in financial damages. The lawyer said the family sold its land after the church warned, “An evil spirit is in a rice paddy.”

Hashida said he received a call on Oct. 15 from a local resident related to the church, saying Teshigawara wanted to meet him. Teshigawara nonetheless came to the home on the evening of Oct. 16 and said, “I want to talk, one on one.” He told Hashida to stop talking about the church to the media and did not leave until Hashida called the police and officers arrived. Hashida said he could not sleep for 24 hours afterward because “someone else might be coming to my house.” He said the church “is trying to contain me and has no intention of returning the money.” The report does not include a response from the church.

According to the report, the church also tried to silence a former member in her 20s, who used the pseudonym Sayuri Ogawa, at an Oct. 7 news conference held at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo.

Source: Read the original report