Killer of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe sentenced to life
Shinzo Abe (photo: Getty Images)
Nara District Court sentenced Tetsuya Yamagami, the killer of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to life imprisonment, Kyodo reports.
It is noted that the prosecution sought this punishment for the defendant. The suspect's lawyers insist that the prison term should not exceed 20 years.
Yamagami believed that the former prime minister was linked to the Unification Church, which bankrupted his family: his mother donated $670,000 to the organization.
The prosecution called the killing an unprecedented crime in the country's postwar history. At the same time, the defense argued that Yamagami was a victim of abuse by a religious group and that his "tragic" childhood pushed him to kill Abe.
Investigation sources reported that Abe was chosen as a target because his grandfather, former prime minister Nobusuke Kishi, helped spread the Unification Church in Japan after its founding in South Korea in 1954.
Attack on Abe
Shinzo Abe served as Japan's prime minister in 2006–2007 and 2012–2020, the longest tenure in the country's history.
The attack on former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took place on July 8, 2022, in the city of Nara. Tetsuya Yamagami fired twice at the former prime minister with a homemade shotgun on July 8, 2022, while the official was addressing supporters.
After that, Abe immediately lost consciousness and was hospitalized. It was reported that he was wounded in the lung and neck area. The shooter was immediately detained by police. It is known that he previously served in the Maritime Self-Defense Force.
On October 27, 2025, 45-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami confessed in the Nara District Court that he committed the murder.
