European scholars of religion are calling on the South Korean government to release Lee Man-hee, the 95-year-old chairman of Shincheonji Church, who was detained on June 24 on charges of violating the Political Parties Act. The Joint Police–Prosecution Investigation Headquarters alleges that Lee directed the mass registration of approximately 50,000 church members into a political party between July 2021 and January 2024. Shincheonji Church has denied the allegations, stating that members freely participated in political activities and that both Lee and the church cooperated fully with the investigation.
At the Ninth Annual Conference of the European Academy of Religion (EuARe) in Rome on July 3, scholars addressed the case during a session titled "Shincheonji, a Korean New Religion in Global Context." Dr. Massimo Introvigne, a sociologist of religion and founder of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), criticized the detention, stating, "In all European Union countries, legislation mandates that those older than 80 should only exceptionally be put in jail, and only for violent crimes. Here, of course, there are no blood crimes, and the accusations are violations of electoral law." He added that the detention violates the United Nations' Mandela Rules, which limit preliminary detention for elderly prisoners.
Eric Roux, president of the European Interreligious Forum for Religious Freedom (EIFRF), echoed these concerns, saying, "A man of 95 years old being put in jail is not something that you can reconcile with the objective of respecting human dignity." He urged a swift review to avoid damage to South Korea's reputation. Human rights lawyer Alessandro Amicarelli, chairman of the European Federation for Freedom of Belief (FOB), described the situation as "truly shocking" for a democratic country like South Korea, adding that it appears to depart from the nation's constitutional human rights foundations.
Shincheonji Church emphasized that the detention has become an international human rights issue. On May 25, human rights organizations United for Human Rights and Coordination des Associations et des Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience (CAP-LC) submitted a joint written statement to the 62nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, assessing that the situation has intensified and that framing political party registration as "religion–politics collusion" is inconsistent with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The statement also noted that South Korean President ordered the creation of a joint police-prosecutor task force explicitly targeting Shincheonji, and senior officials have publicly referred to the church as a "criminal organization," incompatible with the presumption of innocence.
Shincheonji Church stated that "support and petitions from prominent figures in the international community continue to grow" and that "the prompt release of Chairman Lee is a matter of safeguarding freedom of religion and human rights." The church operates SCJ TV, an official broadcasting channel, and maintains websites at Shincheonji.org and SCJTVGlobal.com.
