Man who killed Japan's ex-PM Shinzo Abe will get life in jail

[ad_1] The person who killed Japan's former prime minister Shinzo Abe has been sentenced to life in jail, three and a half years after he fatally shot the ex-leader throughout a rally within the western metropolis of Nara.

Tetsuya Yamagami himself pleaded responsible to the crime on the trial's opening final yr, however what punishment he deserves has divided public opinion in Japan. Whereas many see the 45-year-old as a cold-blooded assassin, some sympathise together with his troubled upbringing.

Prosecutors mentioned Yamagami deserved life imprisonment for his "grave act". Abe's assassination surprised the nation the place there's just about no gun crime.

Searching for leniency, Yamagami's defence crew mentioned he was a sufferer of "non secular abuse".

His mom's devotion to the Unification Church bankrupted the household, and Yamagami bore a grudge in opposition to Abe after realising the ex-leader's ties to the controversial church.

Practically 700 individuals lined up outdoors the Nara district court docket on Wednesday to attend the sentencing listening to.

Abe's surprising demise whereas giving a speech in broad daylight prompted investigations into the Unification Church and its questionable practices, together with soliciting financially ruinous donations from its followers.

The case additionally uncovered hyperlinks with politicians from Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Celebration and resulted within the resignations of a number of cupboard ministers.

Journalist Eito Suzuki, who lined all however one among Yamagami's court docket hearings, mentioned Yamagami and his household appeared "overwhelmed with despair" all through the trial.

Yamagami "exuded a way of world-weariness and resignation", recounts Suzuki, who started wanting into the Unification Church lengthy earlier than Abe's surprising homicide.

"All the things is true. There isn't any doubt that I did this," Yamagami mentioned solemnly on the primary day of his trial in October 2025. Armed with a home made gun assembled utilizing two metallic pipes and duct tape, he fired two photographs at Abe throughout a political marketing campaign occasion within the western metropolis of Nara on 8 July 2022.

The homicide of Japan's most recognisable public determine on the time – Abe stays the longest-serving PM in Japanese historical past – despatched shockwaves around the globe.

Calling for a jail time period of not more than 20 years, Yamagami's legal professionals argued that he was a sufferer of "non secular abuse". He resented the church as a result of his mom donated to it his late father's life insurance coverage and different property, amounting to 100 million yen (S$828,750), the court docket heard.

Yamagami spoke of his grievance in opposition to Abe after seeing his video message at a church-related occasion in 2021, however mentioned he had initially deliberate to assault church executives, not Abe.

Suzuki recollects Abe's widow Akie's look of disbelief when Yamagami mentioned the ex-leader was not his most important goal. Her expression "stays vividly etched in my thoughts", Suzuki says.

"It conveyed a way of shock, like she was asking: Was my husband merely a device used to settle a grudge in opposition to the non secular organisation? Is that each one it was?"

In an emotional assertion learn to the court docket, Akie Abe mentioned the sorrow of shedding her husband "won't ever be relieved".

"I simply wished him to remain alive," she had mentioned.

Based in South Korea, the Unification Church entered Japan within the Sixties and cultivated ties with politicians to develop its following, researchers say.

Whereas not a member, Abe, like a number of different Japanese politicians, would sometimes seem at church-related occasions. His grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, additionally a former PM, was mentioned to have been near the group due to its anti-communist stance.

In March final yr, a Tokyo court docket revoked the church's standing as a non secular company, ruling that it coerced followers into shopping for costly objects by exploiting fears about their non secular well-being.

The church has additionally drawn controversy for holding mass wedding ceremony ceremonies involving 1000's of {couples}.

Yamagami's sister, who appeared as a defence witness throughout his trial, gave a tearful testimony on the "dire circumstances she and her siblings endured" due to their mom's deep involvement with the church, Suzuki recollects.

"It was an intensely emotional second. Practically everybody within the public gallery gave the impression to be crying," he says.

However prosecutors argue there's "a leap in logic" as to why Yamagami directed his resentment of the church at Abe. In the course of the trial, the judges additionally raised questions suggesting they discovered it onerous to grasp this facet of his defence.

Observers, too, are divided on whether or not Yamagami's private tragedies justify a decreased penalty for his actions.

"It is onerous to dismantle the prosecution's case that Abe did not instantly hurt Yamagami or his household," Suzuki says.

However he believes Yamagami's case illustrates how "victims of social issues are led to commit severe crimes".

"This chain have to be damaged, we should correctly study why he dedicated the crime," Suzuki says.

Rin Ushiyama, a sociologist at Queen's College Belfast, says sympathy for Yamagami is essentially rooted in "widespread mistrust and antipathy in Japan in the direction of controversial religions just like the Unification Church".

"Yamagami was actually a 'sufferer' of parental neglect and financial hardship attributable to the [Unification Church], however this doesn't clarify, not to mention justify, his [actions]," Ushiyama says.