Court Rules Life in Prison for Tetsuya Yamagami, Defendant in Fatal Shooting of PM Shinzo Abe (UPDATE1)

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:37 JST, January 21, 2026

The Nara District Court delivered the ruling of life in prison to defendant Tetsuya Yamagami over the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022, in Nara on Wednesday.

The prosecutors had sought life in prison for him in December.

The indictment stated that on July 8, 2022, the defendant, Yamagami, shot and killed Abe with a firearm that he made as Abe was giving a campaign speech for the House of Councillors election near Kintetsu Yamato-Saidaiji Station in Nara City.

The defendant admitted to the murder charge at the first hearing. During questioning, Yamagami stated he targeted Abe because he resented the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly known as the Unification Church) for causing his family to fall apart. His mother had made large donations to the church, and he believed Abe was close to the organization.

Regarding the sentencing, the focus was on how much weight should be given to his difficult upbringing, since his family fell apart due to his mother’s large donations.