Shinzo Abe’s assassin handed Life sentence by Japanese Court

HereTetsuya Yamagami, the man who assassinated former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, has been sentenced to life imprisonment, more than three years after the killing shocked Japan and the international community.

The sentence was handed down on Wednesday by Judge Shinichi Tanaka at a court in Nara, the city where Abe was shot dead in July 2022 while campaigning ahead of upper house elections.

Yamagami, now 45, had admitted to the killing, which took place in broad daylight using a homemade firearm in a country where gun violence is extremely rare.

Under Japanese law, a life sentence allows for the possibility of parole, although legal experts note that many inmates serving such sentences spend the remainder of their lives in prison.

Prosecutors had sought a life term, describing the assassination as “unprecedented in our post-war history” and stressing the severe impact the crime had on Japanese society.

At the opening of the trial in October, they argued that Yamagami’s actions were motivated by resentment toward the Unification Church, an organisation he blamed for his family’s financial ruin.

According to prosecutors, Yamagami believed that killing a high-profile figure such as Abe would draw public attention to the church and spark widespread criticism.

Abe had previously sent a video message to an event organised by a group affiliated with the church, which Yamagami cited as the reason he targeted the former leader.

Defence lawyers had argued for a maximum sentence of 20 years, pointing to the hardships Yamagami endured after his mother donated her life savings to the church.

Public interest in the case remained intense, with large numbers of people lining up to obtain tickets to observe the sentencing hearing.

The assassination exposed long-standing ties between Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Unification Church.

An internal party investigation later found that more than 100 lawmakers had connections with the group, contributing to public backlash against the LDP.

Abe, who served as prime minister for a total of 3,188 days across two terms, was a divisive figure at home but highly influential abroad.

He forged a close relationship with former US president Donald Trump and was the first foreign leader to meet him after the 2016 election.

Although Abe stepped down in 2020 due to health reasons, his political legacy continues to shape Japan’s leadership and foreign relations.