Japan Ex-PM Abe Murder Defendant Plans to Admit Intent to Kill; Defense to Not Challenge Ability to Bear Criminal Responsibility

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:51 JST, May 16, 2025

The man indicted over the murder of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to admit his intent to kill at the Nara District Court, sources involved in the trial said.

Unemployed 44-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami was indicted on charges including the murder of Abe, then 67, who was fatally shot during a stump speech in Nara in July 2022. The defense also plans to not challenge his ability to bear criminal responsibility, the sources added.

The district court is planning to hold the first hearing on Oct. 28.

Yamagami was also indicted on suspicion of firing a handmade gun that he created in violation of the Firearms and Swords Control Law. Whether the handmade gun is subject to the regulations for firing offenses will likely be an issue at the trial.

According to the indictment, Yamagami fired metal bullets from a handmade gun and fatally shot Abe during his stump speech in Nara for a House of Councillors election around noon on July 8, 2022.

Yamagami told the Nara prefectural police that he held a grudge against the Unification Church, officially known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, to which his mother continuously donated large sums of money when he was a teenager. He also told the police that he targeted Abe because he thought the former prime minister had ties to the religious group. He was detained for an evaluation to determine his criminal responsibility and was indicted by March 2023.

In October 2023, pretrial proceedings began to narrow down the issues, and there have been six such proceedings so far.