Court Hears Arguments on Weight of Yamagami’s Background in Sentencing; Will Rule on Whether Defendant Should Serve 20 Years or Life

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:03 JST, December 19, 2025

How much weight should be given to a defendant’s upbringing and background when deciding on their sentence?

This was the point in question in recent arguments between the prosecution and the defense in the trial of Tetsuya Yamagami, who is charged with fatally shooting former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022. Prosecutors claimed Yamagami’s background had only a “limited” impact on his decision to shoot Abe and have sought life imprisonment, while the defense has called for a fixed term of 20 years in prison.

Just as he had done at previous hearings during his lay judge trial at the Nara District Court, Yamagami, 45, wore a black, long-sleeved shirt and beige trousers Thursday. Abe’s wife, Akie, did not appear in court, but a lawyer read out a statement detailing Akie’s feelings on her behalf.

In the statement, Akie said her husband had previously told her that politicians “put their lives on the line.”

“I truly never thought that day would come,” Akie, 63, said in her statement. “The shock was so overwhelming that my mind went blank and, for a long time, it felt like I was in a dream. I have been left alone, and thinking about my husband brings tears to my eyes.”

Akie’s statement also revealed that she had felt a complex range of emotions. “No matter how sad I feel about my husband’s death, I don’t want to harbor negative feelings such as resentment,” the statement said.

Akie appeared in court for the first time during the trial on Dec. 3 and came face-to-face with Yamagami in person. She said she wanted to see him directly, with her own eyes. However, Yamagami did not apologize in front of Akie, who reportedly cried in a waiting room. “While my husband was indeed a politician, as the only family I had, to me he was irreplaceable,” Akie’s statement said. “The sense of loss I feel over my husband’s sudden death will never fade.”

It took about 20 minutes to read out Akie’s statement. At the end, the lawyer turned to Yamagami and called on him to “squarely face his crimes” and atone for them. Yamagami kept looking down, writing some notes, and his expression did not change.

Arguments over Yamagami’s background

Yamagami’s mother made large donations to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, also known as the Unification Church, which ended up ripping apart his family. To what extent this background should be taken into account when determining Yamagami’s sentence has been a key point of contention during the trial.

In its closing arguments, the prosecution acknowledged that Yamagami had gone through some difficult times, but insisted that he had “walked his own path through life.” The prosecution explained that after Yamagami had graduated from high school, he had received support from his relatives, making it possible for him to take university entrance exams, and then to spend time studying to retake them after failing the first time.

After becoming an adult, Yamagami got back some of the donated money from the church, and he became qualified as a real estate transaction specialist. He also lived apart from his mother.

The prosecutors also explained the events that led to Yamagami deciding to target Abe.

When Yamagami was 35, his older brother, who deeply resented the Unification Church, took his own life. Yamagami began making his own handguns in December 2020 and, at the time of Abe’s assassination, had debts of about ¥2 million. Given that there was no way of knowing when senior members of the Unification Church might visit Japan, Yamagami switched his attention to Abe, who had links with the group.

The prosecution also underlined that that had been no other cases of murders by other “second-generation” members of the church — children of the group’s followers — who had suffered harsher circumstances than Yamagami. “The defendant’s upbringing had an extremely limited impact on his decision to commit a crime, and it should not significantly lessen the severity of the sentence,” the prosecution argued.

The defense team spoke in detail about Yamagami’s mother’s faith in the church, her donations and how the family split apart.

The defense explained that the church had been the “perpetrator” that had derailed Yamagami’s life, and that he had decided to kill senior members of the church after his brother had committed suicide to “strike a blow against the organization that had ruined his own life.” When that became impossible, Yamagami decided to target Abe, an influential politician he understood had close connections with the church.

The defense also argued that Yamagami “was a victim of abuse” involving the church. “His experience of living a miserable life since he was a minor can be strongly and directly connected to this crime,” the defense said. “This point forms the core of this case, and is not seen in typical murder cases. It is deeply linked to the motive that will be given the highest importance when determining the sentence.”

The defense suggested that Yamagami’s motive and circumstances were something that members of society “could fully understand.” The defense insisted that the sentence “should be kept to 20 years’ imprisonment.”

At the conclusion of the trial, presiding Judge Shinichi Tanaka offered Yamagami the opportunity to speak. However, Yamagami did not look at the witness stand and, from his seat by his lawyers, said he had nothing to say.

The court is scheduled to deliver its ruling on Jan. 21.