Japan Court Hands Life Term to Man Who Killed Former PM Shinzo Abe

Japan Court Hands Life Term to Man Who Killed Former PM Shinzo Abe

AP 

Tokyo : A Japanese court today sentenced the man who shot former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to life in prison.

The man had admitted to assassinating the former Japanese leader, a case that revealed decades of cozy ties between Japan's governing party and a controversial South Korean church.

Abe, one of Japan's most influential politicians, was serving as a regular lawmaker after leaving the prime minister's job when he was killed in 2022 while campaigning in the western city of Nara. It shocked a nation with strict gun control.

Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, pleaded guilty to murder in the trial that started in October, and Wednesday's ruling will determine how long he'll spend in prison.

Shooter said he was motivated by hatred of a controversial church

Yamagami said he killed Abe after seeing a video message the former leader sent to a group affiliated with the Unification Church. He added that his goal was to hurt the church, which he hated, and expose its ties with Abe.

The revelation of close ties between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the church caused the party to pull back from the church. It also prompted investigations that ended with the church's Japanese branch being stripped of its tax-exempt religious status and ordered dissolved.

The killing has also led to officials working to increase police protection of dignitaries.

Shooting at a crowded election campaign venue Abe was shot on July 8, 2022, while giving a speech outside a train station in Nara. In footage captured by television cameras, two gunshots ring out as the politician raises his fist. He collapses holding his chest, his shirt smeared with blood. Officials say Abe died almost instantly.

Yamagami was captured on the spot. He said he initially planned to kill the leader of the Unification Church, but switched targets to Abe because of the difficulty of getting close to the leader.