Overview
- Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, received life imprisonment from the Nara District Court for murdering former prime minister Shinzo Abe and violating firearms laws after pleading guilty.
- Yamagami shot Abe with a homemade gun during a July 2022 campaign speech in Nara and was arrested at the scene.
- Presiding judge Shinichi Tanaka condemned the attack as despicable and noted the enduring grief of Abe’s widow, Akie.
- Prosecutors had sought life in prison, while the defense urged a term capped at 20 years citing family hardship tied to the Unification Church; the court sided with the prosecution.
- The case intensified scrutiny of political links to the Unification Church, and a Tokyo court ordered the group’s Japanese branch to disband in 2025, a decision now under appeal.