A Japanese court will deliver its verdict on Wednesday (Jan 21) on Tetsuya Yamagami, the man accused of assassinating former prime minister Shinzo Abe, more than three and a half years after the killing shocked the nation.
Yamagami, now 45, was arrested at the scene in July 2022 after shooting Abe with a homemade gun during a campaign speech in the western city of Nara. Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, was 67 when he died.
Although he was no longer in office at the time, Abe remained a dominant figure within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and his death left a political vacuum that triggered two leadership contests and a succession of prime ministers.
Abe served a total of 3,188 days as prime minister over two terms before stepping down in September 2020 due to health reasons. His former protégé, Sanae Takaichi, now leads both Japan and the LDP, though the party’s grip on power has weakened significantly.
The assassination also exposed deep ties between the LDP and the Unification Church, an organisation widely criticised as a cult. An internal party probe found that more than 100 lawmakers had connections to the group, fuelling public backlash against the LDP, which has dominated Japanese politics for most of the post-war era.
Media reports have quoted Yamagami as telling the court that he harboured resentment toward the Unification Church after his mother’s large donations caused severe financial hardship for his family. He said he targeted Abe because the former prime minister had once sent a video message to an event linked to a church-affiliated group.
Founded in South Korea in 1954, the Unification Church is known for its mass weddings and relies heavily on donations from Japanese followers.
A guilty verdict is widely expected after Yamagami admitted to killing Abe during the first court hearing at the Nara District Court in October. The focus is now on sentencing.
Prosecutors have sought a life sentence, describing the killing as an “extremely grave incident unprecedented in post-war history”. Defence lawyers, however, urged the court to consider Yamagami’s family circumstances and limit his sentence to no more than 20 years.
Internationally, Abe was known for his close relationship with former US president Donald Trump. He was the first foreign leader to meet Trump after the 2016 US election, and the two forged a personal bond during multiple golf outings in Japan and the United States. Prime Minister Takaichi has frequently referenced their relationship in her own engagements with Trump.
