Man admits killing ex-PM Abe in Japanese court hearing
Three years after the assassination of Japan’s longest-serving prime minister stunned the country, a man accused of fatally shooting former prime minister Shinzo Abe confessed to the murder at the first hearing of the case, according to media reports.
Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, was arrested at the scene in July 2022 for allegedly shooting Abe with a homemade gun while the former prime minister was giving a speech during an election campaign in the western city of Nara.
“It’s true that I did this,” Yamagami, who appeared calm in a black sweatshirt and gray pants, with her long hair tied back, told the court, public broadcaster NHK reported on Tuesday.
NHK added that a lawyer for Yamagami had asked for the sentence to be reduced, saying the homemade weapon he used did not fall into the category of handgun as defined by Japan’s Firearms and Swords Control Act.
The high-profile case began on the day of a summit meeting between incumbent Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and visiting US President Donald Trump, two of Abe’s former allies.
“She was a great friend of mine and a great friend of yours too,” Trump said as he shook hands with Japan’s first female prime minister.
Abe was the first foreign leader to meet Trump after his election victory in 2016, and the pair continued to form a close bond over several rounds of golf in the United States and Japan.
According to local media reports, Yamagami accused Abe of supporting the Unification Church, a religious group he holds a grudge against, after his mother donated nearly 100 million yen ($A1 million).
The Unification Church, founded in South Korea in 1954, is famous for its mass weddings and counts its Japanese followers as a major source of income.
The conflict was followed by revelations that more than a hundred lawmakers from Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party had ties to the party, reducing public support for the ruling party now led by Takaichi.
After the first hearing on Tuesday, 17 more hearings are planned for the end of the year before a decision is made on January 21.
