PNN – The man accused of murdering the former Japanese prime minister has pleaded guilty at the start of his trial.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, citing Anadolu Agency, according to local Japanese media, the man accused of murdering former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who still holds the record for the longest-serving prime minister in the country, pleaded guilty to the charges at the start of his trial.
Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, shot Abe during an election event in the city of Nara in western Japan’s Kansai prefecture on July 8, 2022. Yamagami shot Abe using a homemade weapon, and Abe died from his injuries the same day.
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Kyodo News reported that he told investigators that he “committed the crime out of resentment toward the Unification Church for the bankruptcy of his family due to his mother’s large donations (about 100 million yen—$660,000) to the group.”
The controversial church, founded in 1954 by a fervent anti-communist in South Korea and supported by Abe’s grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, has since been dissolved in Japan.
Abe’s murder by Yamagami exposed links between the church and lawmakers from Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party. The Nara District Court is scheduled to rule on the case in January 2026.
After Abe’s assassination, the Japanese government sought to dissolve the religious sect in 2023, and a court in Japan ordered its dissolution in March of this year.