ABE ASSASSIN SENTENCED TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT IN JAPAN
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Agency Report
A Japanese court on Wednesday sentenced Tetsuya Yamagami, the gunman who assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to life imprisonment, describing the daylight killing as “despicable and extremely malicious.”
Delivering judgment at the Nara District Court, Judge Shinichi Tanaka said the prosecution had proven that Yamagami, 45, was fully determined to carry out the attack, noting that he shot Abe from behind when the former leader least expected it.
“The fact that the defendant carried out the act in such circumstances underscores the despicable and extremely malicious nature of the crime,” the judge ruled.
Yamagami was convicted on charges including murder and violations of Japan’s firearms control laws after he used a homemade gun to kill Abe during a campaign speech in July 2022. Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, died after collapsing at the scene.
The sentencing attracted significant public attention, with long queues forming outside the courtroom on Wednesday morning. Yamagami showed little emotion as the life sentence was read.
Prosecutors argued that the killing was meticulously planned and motivated by Yamagami’s resentment toward the Unification Church, which he believed had ruined his family financially and was being supported by influential politicians. Abe had previously spoken at events linked to church-affiliated groups.
Judge Tanaka acknowledged that Yamagami’s upbringing and family circumstances — including his mother’s excessive donations to the church — had influenced his mindset. However, he stressed that the crime itself was a product of the defendant’s own decisions and deserved severe punishment.
“Each criminal act he took was based on his own judgment and warrants strong condemnation,” the judge said.
Yamagami’s defence team, which had pleaded for leniency on the grounds of what it described as “religious abuse” and long-term psychological trauma, said it had not yet decided whether to appeal. Under Japanese law, an appeal must be filed within two weeks.
The trial reignited national debate over Japan’s gun control, political accountability, and the influence of religious organisations. Investigations following Abe’s assassination exposed links between the Unification Church and several conservative lawmakers, leading to the resignation of four cabinet ministers.
The assassination shocked Japan, a country with some of the strictest gun laws in the world, and marked one of the rare instances of fatal gun violence in modern Japanese history.
Although life imprisonment in Japan technically allows for parole, legal experts note that many inmates serving such sentences spend the rest of their lives behind bars.
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