A MAN who killed Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe has been jailed for life, more than three years after the shocking shooting stunned the nation.
Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Wednesday for gunning down Abe at an election rally in the western city of Nara in July 2022.
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Tetsuya Yamagami (pictured in 2022) received a life sentence for assassinating former Prime Minister Shinzo AbeCredit: Reuters
Yamagami pictured being detained near the site of gunshots in Nara Prefecture, western Japan, in 2022Credit: AP
People offer prayers for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Zojoji temple in Tokyo, Japan, July 8, 2023Credit: AP
He had pleaded guilty to murder at the opening of his trial last year.
Handing down the sentence, Judge Shinichi Tanaka said the attack was “despicable and extremely malicious”.
“The act of waiting for an opportunity, finding an opening, and targeting the victim with a gun is despicable and extremely malicious,” the judge said, according to public broadcaster NHK.
Yamagami shot Abe from behind using a homemade weapon fashioned from two metal pipes and duct tape as the former leader delivered a campaign speech.
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Abe, 67, died shortly after being rushed to hospital.
The killing of Japan’s longest-serving prime minister in broad daylight completely shook a country where gun crime is virtually unheard of.
Prosecutors had sought a life sentence for Yamagami’s “grave act”, arguing the assassination undermined democracy and public safety.
His defence team called for leniency, saying he was a victim of “religious abuse”.
Yamagami told the court his mother’s devotion to the Unification Church bankrupted the family and ruined his childhood.
He said he bore a grudge against Abe after learning of the former leader’s links to the church.
“Everything is true. There is no doubt that I did this,” Yamagami said solemnly on the first day of his trial.
He told the court he had initially planned to attack church executives but turned his attention to Abe after seeing a video message the ex-leader sent to a church-related event in 2021.
Abe’s widow, Akie Abe, said in an emotional statement that the sorrow of losing her husband “will never be relieved”.
“I just wanted him to stay alive,” she said.
Nearly 700 people queued in the cold for one of just 31 public seats in the courtroom as the sentence was delivered.
A courtroom sketch depicts Tetsuya Yamagami (L), listening to the explanation of the verdict at the Nara District Court in Nara on TuesdayCredit: AFP
A vehicle carrying Tetsuya Yamagami enters the Nara District Court in Nara on TuesdayCredit: Reuters
Yamagami sat silently with his hands clasped and eyes downcast.
The case exposed longstanding ties between Japanese politicians and the Unification Church and triggered sweeping investigations.
Several cabinet ministers resigned, and last year a Tokyo court revoked the church’s status as a religious corporation, citing coercive fundraising practices.
Observers remain divided over whether Yamagami’s troubled past justified a reduced sentence.
Prosecutors rejected that argument, saying there was “a leap in logic” in blaming Abe for the church’s actions.
People visiting the memorial for former prime minister Shinzo Abe in Nara on January 13Credit: AFP
AloJapan.com