TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese court sentenced a man who admitted assassinating former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to life imprisonment on Wednesday. The case has revealed decades of cozy ties between Japan’s governing party and a controversial South Korean church.
Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, earlier admitted to killing Abe in July 2022 during his election campaign speech in the western city of Nara.
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.
Yamagami pleaded guilty to murder in the trial that started in October. The Nara District Court announced Wednesday that it had issued a guilty verdict and sentenced Yamagami to life in prison, as prosecutors requested.
Takashi Fumimoto, one of the defense lawyers, said the decision did not take into consideration their request for clemency and was “regrettable,” adding that Yamagami's legal team would consider an appeal after consulting with him.
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, investigators have said.
Prosecutors demanded life imprisonment for Yamagami, noting the seriousness of the attack and the danger it caused at a crowded campaign venue. His lawyers sought a sentence of no more than 20 years, citing his troubles as the child of a church adherent. Japanese law authorizes the death penalty in murder cases, but prosecutors do not usually request it unless at least two people are killed.
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 a court decision that stripped the church's Japanese branch of its tax-exempt religious status and ordered it dissolved. The church has since appealed, pending a decision.
The killing also led the National Police Agency to increase police protection of dignitaries.
A political blue blood, Abe was Japan's longest-serving postwar leader, holding power for nine years before stepping down in 2021. He led the largest faction of the governing party and forged a friendship with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Abe is remembered for his arch-conservative views on security and historical issues, and was backed by right-wing groups including the Unification Church. Similar views are now represented by his protege Sanae Takaichi, who took office in October as Japan's first female Prime Minister.
An investigation into Abe’s assassination revealed close ties between his governing party and the church, dating back to a 1960s anti-communist movement supported by Abe's grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi.
Yamagami said that as he plotted his attack, he saw Abe's appearance in a video message shown to a meeting of church-related Universal Peace Federation.
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.
He told the court last year that he chose Abe as a figure who exemplified the connection between Japanese politics and the church, according to NHK.
Yamagami, apologized to Abe's widow, Akie Abe, in an earlier court session, saying he had no grudge against his family and that he had no excuse to defend him, NHK said.
Yamagami’s case also brought attention to the children of Unification Church adherents in Japan, and influenced a law meant to restrict malicious donation solicitations by religious and other groups.
Thousands of people signed a petition requesting leniency for Yamagami, and others have sent care packages to his relatives and the detention center where he’s being housed.
FILE - People offer prayers for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Zojoji temple in Tokyo, Japan, July 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, File)
