Defendant Tetsuya Yamagami with police escort in February, 2023, Nara City.
The Nara District Court sentenced Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, to life imprisonment for the July 2022 shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and related offenses. Presiding Judge Shinichi Tanaka handed down the sentence in line with the prosecution's request.
The main facts of the case, including the murder charge, were not contested, making sentencing the central issue at trial. The defense had argued that the maximum appropriate sentence was 20 years in prison.
Motive
A key issue in sentencing was the link between the crime and the defendant's troubled upbringing, which he claimed was strongly influenced by the former Unification Church, now known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. Yamagami has said he held a grudge against the religious group and targeted Abe because of the former prime minister's perceived ties to it. (Former PM Abe was not a member of the group.)
The defendant's family life deteriorated after his mother joined the group and made repeated large donations, eventually leaving the household in a state of collapse. His older brother, who reportedly harbored deep resentment toward the organization, later died by suicide. Driven by hostility toward the group, the defendant initially planned to attack one of its senior officials.
Change of Target
However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, senior church officials based in South Korea were not expected to travel to Japan. As a result, five days before the incident, the defendant abruptly changed his target to Abe.
The defendant testified that he felt "revulsion and hostility" toward Abe, arguing that his resentment toward the religious organization led directly to the shooting.
Prosecutors countered that the defendant's "true enemy" was the church leadership and said there was no convincing explanation for why he ultimately targeted Abe. They argued that the decision involved a "leap of logic" and that the defendant's upbringing played only a limited role in his criminal decision-making.
Details of the Charges
According to the indictment, on July 8, 2022, in Nara City, the defendant shot and killed Shinzo Abe with a homemade pipe gun while he was delivering a campaign speech for the Upper House election. In addition to murder, the defendant was charged with five offenses in total, including violations of the Firearm and Sword Possession Control Law, the Weapons Manufacturing Act, the Explosives Control Act, and damage to a building.
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(Read the article in Japanese.)
Author: The Sankei Shimbun
