A man accused of fatally shooting former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe admitted to murder at the first hearing of the case, three years after the killing of Japan’s longest-serving prime minister stunned the nation.
Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, was arrested at the scene of the shooting in July 2022 after allegedly shooting Abe with a homemade gun as the former prime minister was delivering a speech during an election campaign in the western city of Nara.
“It’s true that I did it,” Yamagami, who looked calm in a black sweatshirt and gray pants with grown-out hair tied at the back, said Tuesday on the opening day of his trial, public broadcaster NHK reported.
A lawyer for Yamagami subsequently asked for a reduced sentence, saying the handmade weapon he used did not fall within the category of pistols defined by Japan’s Firearm and Sword Control Law, NHK added.
The high-profile trial began on the day of a summit meeting of two former allies of Abe, incumbent Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and visiting US President Donald Trump.
Tetsuya Yamagami was accused of assassinating Shinzo Abe during a campaign event in Nara City in July 2022. Source: AP / Ken Satomi
“He was a good friend of mine and a good friend of yours,” Trump said as he shook hands with Japan’s first female prime minister.
Abe was the first foreign leader to meet Trump after his 2016 election victory and the pair subsequently forged a close bond over several rounds of golf in the United States and Japan.
Yamagami accused Abe of promoting the Unification Church, a religious group he held a grudge against after his mother donated about 100 million yen ($1 million AUD) to it, according to domestic media.
The Unification Church, founded in 1954 in South Korea, is known for its mass weddings and considers Japanese followers an important source of income.
The shooting was followed by revelations that more than a hundred lawmakers from Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party were linked to it, shrinking public support for the ruling party, now led by Takaichi.
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