A Japanese court sentenced a 45-year-old man to life in prison Wednesday for the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which stunned Japan three and a half years ago, NHK reported.
In July 2022, Tetsuya Yamagami was immediately arrested after assassinating former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, 67, with a homemade gun during a campaign speech in Nara. Abe was Japan’s longest-serving prime minister.
Yamagami’s admission to killing Abe at the Nara District Court in October made a guilty verdict inevitable, shifting focus to the severity of his sentence.
Prosecutors sought a life sentence last month, calling the act an “extremely grave incident that is unprecedented in post-war history”.
Although he was no longer Japan’s leader at the time, Abe remained a powerful and binding force within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. His absence has left a vacuum within the party, which has since seen two leadership races and, by extension, a revolving door of prime ministers.
Abe himself served as prime minister for a total of 3,188 days over two separate terms, stepping down in September 2020, citing health reasons.
His protege Sanae Takaichi now leads Japan and the LDP, but the party’s grip on power has considerably diminished.
Abe’s assassination exposed deep ties between his party and the Unification Church, viewed by many as a cult. An internal investigation revealed over a hundred lawmakers had connections to the group, causing many voters to reject the LDP, Japan’s dominant post-war party.
Yamagami reportedly told the court that he targeted Abe due to his association with the Unification Church, against which Yamagami held a grudge because his mother’s large donation to the church bankrupted their family.
Founded in South Korea in 1954, the Unification Church is famous for its mass weddings and counts Japanese followers as a key source of income.
Yamagami’s lawyers, meanwhile, argued that the family’s misfortune caused by the donation to the Unification Church should be taken into consideration and limit his prison term to 20 years at most.
While Abe was a divisive figure domestically, he was among the few global leaders to have a strong rapport with US President Donald Trump.
Abe was the first foreign leader to meet Trump after his 2016 election victory, and the two went on to forge a close bond over rounds of golf in the United States and Japan. Prime Minister Takaichi has repeatedly referenced their friendship in her own dealings with Trump.
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