Crime & Courts

Abe Shooting Defendant Yamagami Apologizes to Slain PM’s Family for 1st Time

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Tetsuya Yamagami

The Yomiuri Shimbun

19:31 JST, December 4, 2025

Tetsuya Yamagami, who has been charged with fatally shooting former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022, apologized to Abe’s family for the first time in a court hearing on Thursday.

“I think I have done something very regrettable,” Yamagami said during the 14th hearing of his trial in Nara District Court on Thursday afternoon.

“I harbor no grudge against the former prime minister’s family, including Ms. Akie. I have caused them immense suffering. There is no excuse for my actions,” he said. The hearing was the fifth in which Yamagami was questioned. In the previous hearing on Wednesday, Yamagami said he had never apologized to Abe’s family.

Akie Abe, the widow of Shinzo Abe, had appeared in court on Wednesday but was not present on Thursday.