Prosecutors demand life sentence for shooter of former Japan PM Abe

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Tetsuya Yamagami admitted to murdering former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe during his trial at the Nara District Court.

PHOTO: AFP

TOKYO - Prosecutors on Dec 18 sought life imprisonment for the man

standing trial over the fatal shooting of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe

Tetsuya Yamagami admitted to murdering Mr Abe during his trial at the Nara District Court, saying he held a grudge against the church because of the financial ruin his family suffered owing to his mother’s heavy donations to the religious group.

The 45-year-old defendant is accused of fatally shooting Mr Abe with a handmade firearm during an election stump speech by the former prime minister in the western Japan city of Nara on July 8, 2022, according to the indictment and other sources.

The ruling will be handed down on Jan 21, 2026.

Prosecutors said Yamagami believed that shooting Mr Abe, who sent a video message to an event hosted by a group closely associated with the church, would direct “attention and criticism” at the organisation.

They said the defendant’s difficult upbringing should not be used to justify a reduced sentence.

Yamagami’s defence counsel said he resented the church because his mother had donated 100 million yen (S$828,746) to it, forcing his family into bankruptcy, something that should be considered in mitigation of his sentence.

It was revealed during the trial that Yamagami’s mother joined the religious group in 1991 after her husband died by suicide in 1984.