Tetsuya Yamagami Pleads Guilty To Killing Former Japan PM Shinzo Abe

A man accused of killing former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has pleaded guilty at the opening of his trial, BBC reported.

Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, told a Tokyo court that "everything is true", local media reported. He faces charges of murder and violations of Japan’s arms control laws.

Yamagami is alleged to have used a homemade gun to shoot Abe during a political campaign event in Nara in 2022. Abe, 67, was hit several times and died in hospital later that day, BBC reported.

Abe was known for his hawkish foreign policy and for an economic strategy commonly referred to as "Abenomics".

Investigators say Yamagami told them he targeted Abe because he believed the former prime minister had promoted the Unification Church, which Yamagami blamed for bankrupting his mother. The donations in question are reported to total about 100 million yen ($660,000), according to the account supplied.

Abe’s killing prompted closer scrutiny of ties between the Liberal Democratic Party and the Unification Church and led to the resignation of four ministers in the ensuing years.

In March this year, a Tokyo court ordered the disbandment of the Unification Church, stripping it of tax-exempt status and requiring it to liquidate its assets, BBC reported.

Why was Shinzo Abe assasinated?

Shinzo Abe was assassinated on 8 July 2022 while giving a campaign speech in Nara, Japan. The gunman, Tetsuya Yamagami, told investigators he targeted Abe because he believed the former prime minister had links to the Unification Church, also known as the Moonies.

Yamagami claimed the church had financially ruined his family after his mother donated about 100 million yen, leading to their bankruptcy. He said he blamed Abe for promoting the group. Authorities confirmed the attack was politically motivated by resentment toward the church rather than Abe’s policies or government actions.

(With inputs from BBC)