Trial of shooter of ex-Japan PM Abe to begin next week
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TOKYO – The trial of a man indicted for killing former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, allegedly due to a grudge against the Unification Church, will begin next week, three years after the shooting shed light on the church’s links to politicians.
Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, is expected to plead guilty to the murder of Abe, postwar Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, with his defense team likely to call for leniency, saying his upbringing was marked by “religious abuse,” according to sources close to the matter.
The trial at the Nara District Court is scheduled to begin Tuesday and conclude on Dec. 18, with a ruling expected on Jan. 21. A total of 12 witnesses will testify, the court said.
Yamagami is accused of fatally shooting Abe with a handmade firearm during an election stump speech by the late premier in the western Japanese city of Nara on July 8, 2022, according to the indictment and other sources.
Yamagami has told investigators that he held a grudge against the Unification Church because of the financial ruin his family suffered as a result of the massive donations, likely of around 100 million yen ($650,000), that his mother made to the group.
He targeted Abe because Abe’s grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, helped introduce the group to Japan from South Korea, investigative sources said earlier.
Before prosecutors pressed charges against him, Yamagami underwent an extensive, roughly six-month psychiatric examination that found him mentally fit to be held criminally responsible.
The witnesses include Yamagami’s mother and a religious scholar, as requested by the defense team. A lawmaker who was at the scene is also expected to be summoned as a prosecution witness.
The Unification Church has faced intense scrutiny over its practice of aggressive solicitations of donations from its followers, while the ruling Liberal Democratic Party that Abe used to head suffered a public backlash over revelations of the church’s network of contacts with its lawmakers.
The shooting also drew attention to the sufferings of the children of church members, known as “second-generation” followers. The government released guidelines in late 2022 on how to respond to cases of child abuse, both mental and physical, related to religious beliefs.
Founded in 1954 by a staunch anti-communist in South Korea and earning its Japanese religious corporation status a decade later, the Unification Church is now on the verge of dissolution in Japan.
Following a request from the central government, the Tokyo District Court in March ordered it to disband, citing years of malicious fundraising, though the group has appealed the order.
The shooting also prompted a review of the security detail for politicians in a nation where gun violence is rare.
According to the indictment and other sources, Yamagami tested his handmade weapons multiple times, including at a facility connected to the Unification Church, a day before the fatal shooting.
In addition to the murder charge, Yamagami has been indicted for causing damage to a building by test-firing and violating laws regulating firearms, explosives and the manufacturing of weapons.
Abe was Japan’s prime minister between 2006 and 2007 as well as 2012 and 2020. Nara Prefecture, where his shooting took place, includes the constituency of Sanae Takaichi, his protege who became the country’s first female prime minister earlier in the month.
Content retrieved from: https://english.kyodonews.net/articles/-/63429.
