The detention of Lee Man-hee, the 95-year-old Chairman of the Shincheonji Church, has drawn sharp criticism from European scholars of religion and human rights advocates, who are calling on the South Korean government to release him immediately. Lee was detained on June 24 on charges including violations of the Political Parties Act and was indicted on June 29, allegedly for directing the mass registration of approximately 50,000 church members into a political party between July 2021 and January 2024.
In response, Shincheonji Church has stated that individual members freely participated in political activities and that both Lee and the church have cooperated fully with the investigation. The church expressed deep regret, noting that detaining an elderly man of 95 is tantamount to physical punishment.
At the Ninth Annual Conference of the European Academy of Religion (EuARe) held in Rome on July 3, scholars addressed the situation. Dr. Massimo Introvigne, a sociologist of religion and founder of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), said: "In all European Union countries, legislation mandates that those older than 80 should only exceptionally be put in jail; they should be under house arrest if needed, 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 international law, including the United Nations' Mandela Rules, and called it "an unmitigated scandal, which hides a political and religious vendetta."
Eric Roux, President of the European Interreligious Forum for Religious Freedom (EIFRF), echoed these sentiments: "A man of 95 years old being put in jail is not something that you can reconcile with the objective of respecting human dignity. Even if what you pretend he has done is true, you would not put a man of this age in prison. I would suggest that this be reviewed very fast to avoid something that would be very detrimental to the reputation of South Korea."
Human rights lawyer Alessandro Amicarelli, Chairman of the European Federation for Freedom of Belief, expressed shock: "As a human rights lawyer, I always considered South Korea a true democracy where human rights are upheld like a foundation of the democracy. Unfortunately, what's happening now is truly shocking. We cannot accept that a religious leader in a democratic country, at the age of 95, has to be under this kind of pressure."
The case has also been raised at the United Nations. On May 25, the 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 UN Human Rights Council, arguing that the charges are inconsistent with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees every citizen the right to participate in political life. They also noted that senior officials have publicly referred to Shincheonji as a "criminal organization," which violates the presumption of innocence.
Shincheonji Church emphasized that the detention has become an international human rights issue, and that "the prompt release of Chairman Lee is a matter of safeguarding freedom of religion and human rights, which are core values of democracy."
