{"id":56913,"date":"2026-01-21T13:22:01","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T13:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/japan-s-ex-pm-shinzo-abe-killer-sentenced-to-life-in-prison\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T13:22:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T13:22:24","slug":"japan-s-ex-pm-shinzo-abe-killer-sentenced-to-life-in-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/japan-s-ex-pm-shinzo-abe-killer-sentenced-to-life-in-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan’s ex-PM Shinzo Abe killer sentenced to life in prison"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yamagami admitted to the crime during the trial, and while he expressed remorse, his defense raised complex issues regarding his troubled upbringing and resentment toward the Unification Church, which his mother was deeply involved in.<\/p>\n

Yamagami\u2019s defense team argued that he was a victim of religious abuse, claiming that his mother\u2019s devotion to the church financially ruined the family. <\/p>\n

They presented evidence that the family lost 100 million yen ($633,000) to the church, leaving Yamagami bitter toward Abe, whose connections to the church were revealed during the investigation. <\/p>\n

Yamagami believed that Abe\u2019s ties to the controversial group indirectly caused his family\u2019s downfall, fueling his desire for revenge. <\/p>\n

However, the prosecution countered that Yamagami’s act was cold-blooded and malicious, with Judge Shinichi Tanaka describing his actions as \u201cdespicable and extremely malicious\u201d because Yamagami shot Abe from behind during an unguarded moment.<\/p>\n

Yamagami, who had assembled a homemade gun from metal pipes and duct tape, shot Abe twice, killing him instantly. His actions triggered a national investigation into the Unification Church, which had been criticized for its financial exploitation of followers and its ties to Japan\u2019s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). <\/p>\n

The case also led to the resignation of several ministers whose connections to the church were exposed. Despite his defense team\u2019s plea for a lighter sentence, arguing that Yamagami\u2019s violent act was an emotional response to his family\u2019s suffering, many felt that the crime could not be justified.<\/p>\n

In a tearful testimony, Akie Abe, the widow of the former Prime Minister, spoke of the profound sorrow her husband\u2019s death caused. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted him to stay alive,\u201d she said. The Unification Church, a South Korean-founded organization, has faced scrutiny for its aggressive financial demands and its controversial mass weddings. <\/p>\n

Last year, a Tokyo court revoked the church’s religious corporation status due to its coercive donation practices.<\/p>\n

\"Tetsuya<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tetsuya Yamagami has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, three years after the shocking assassination that rocked Japan. Yamagami, 45, shot Abe on July 8, 2022, during a political rally in Nara, Japan. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":2000100869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[75],"byline":[201],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-56913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-justice","tag-homenews","byline-rania-umutoni"],"bylines":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":139}],"contributors":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":139}],"featured_image":{"id":2000100869,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/ab-2.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/ab-2.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/ab-2.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/ab-2.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/ab-2.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/ab-2.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000100869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56913"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=56913"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=56913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}