Shooter of Former PM Abe Appeals Against Life Sentence

Tokyo:
Tetsuya Yamagami, who assassinated former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022, filed an appeal on Wednesday against his life sentence.

The Nara District Court on January 21 sentenced the 45-year-old Yamagami to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of murder and other charges for shooting Abe with a homemade gun in July 2022. The former prime minister was delivering a campaign speech on a street in Nara at the time of the attack.

In its ruling, the court rejected the defence’s argument that Yamagami’s troubled childhood should be taken into account while determining the sentence.

One of Yamagami’s lawyers, Masaki Furukawa, said the decision to file an appeal was taken after consulting the accused, with the aim of seeking a review and possible correction of the initial judgment, according to a report by Asahi Shimbun.

Wednesday was the final deadline to file an appeal against the January 21 verdict of the Nara court. Domestic media, citing informed sources, reported that Yamagami agreed to file the appeal after considerable persuasion from his legal team.

During his trial at the Nara District Court, Yamagami had admitted to killing Abe, stating that he committed the crime out of hatred toward the Unification Church. He claimed that his family suffered financial ruin due to large donations made by his mother to the religious group, which he believed had close ties with Abe and other Japanese politicians.

According to Xinhua News Agency, the defence had sought a prison term of more than 20 years, arguing that Yamagami was a victim of harm caused by a religious group and that his “tragic” childhood pushed him toward committing the crime.

However, the court ruled that although Yamagami faced significant hardships during his upbringing, these could not justify a substantial reduction in his sentence. The life term was in line with the demand made by prosecutors.

The defence team, which did not dispute the basic facts of the daylight assassination, had urged the court to limit Yamagami’s sentence to 20 years or less, arguing that he should be given an opportunity to make a fresh start in society.