THE GUNMAN accused of killing Japan’s ex-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has admitted to carrying out the cold-blooded murder with a homemade weapon.
“Everything is true,” Tetsuya Yamagami said today in court – after confessing to killing the politician because of his perceived ties to the controversial Sun Myung Moon church.
Tetsuya Yamagami admitted to killing ex-PM Shinzo AbeCredit: AFP
The former head-of-state was brutally shot
The church, whose members are nicknamed “Moonies”, has been accused of fomenting child neglect among its members and financially exploiting them, claims it denies.
Prosecutors told the court that , 45, started building up resentment toward the church, which he thinks derailed his life.
One prosecutor said: “He began to think he needed a gun to attack church executives, but having failed to procure one “he decided that he had to make one himself”.
Yamagami “thought he could draw public attention to the church… if he killed someone as influential as Abe”, he added.
The former prime minister had spoken at events organised by some of the church groups and received some criticism for doing so.
The gunman was carrying a bizarre homemade shotgun
Abe stepped down as Japan’s prime minister in 2020
Yamagami reportedly resented Abe for his perceived ties to the church, which was established in South Korea in 1954.
The killer’s lawyers said the man’s life collapsed because of the sect.
They said he grew up with a mum who was convinced “throwing all her money and assets” into the church would salvage their grieving family after her son fell ill and her husband took his own life.
In the end, she donated around 100 million yen ($1 million at the time) to the sect, the lawyer said.
Yamagami gave up on advancing to higher education and joined the military instead, while his mother declared bankruptcy.
In 2005, Yamagami also attempted to take his own life, the defence said.
His lawyer said: “He began to think his whole life was ruined by the church.”
COLD-BLOODED MURDER
Horrifying footage showed collapsing on the street clutching his blood-smeared chest as several security guards ran toward him.
Abe was airlifted to hospital but was declared dead hours later despite frantic efforts to save him including undergoing an emergency blood transfusion.
He had been giving a speech at a campaign event for his former party, the Liberal Democratic Party, as upper house elections in Japan are due to take place later this week.
His security team were around him, but the gunman was able to draw his weapon and shoot the former statesman at close range “without being checked”, local media said.
It was the first assassination of a sitting or former Japanese premier since the days of prewar militarism in the 1930s.
Doctors said Abe had bled to death, suffered deep wounds to his neck, and one of the bullets entered his heart.
STRICT GUN LAWS
Japan has some of the strictest gun laws in developed nations, and such shootings are incredibly rare.
In 2007, Nagasaki’s mayor was shot and killed by a member of the yakuza criminal gang.
The head of Japan’s Socialist Party was assassinated with a samurai sword by a right-wing youth during a speech in 1960.
The debacle prompted lawmakers to pass a bill in 2024 further strengthening arms controls to prevent people from making homemade guns.
Under the new rules, uploading tutorial videos on making firearms and propagating information about gun sales on social media can result in a fine or imprisonment of up to one year.
ABE’S LEGACY
Abe resigned as prime minister in 2020 once he “brought stability to Japan after a revolving door of six administrations,” Bloomberg said.
The 67-year-old first served as prime minister from 2006 to 2007 and then again from 2012 to 2020.
He was the longest-serving prime minister in Japan’s history, known for his pro-military stance and signature economic strategy, “Abenomics”.
Abe told reporters when he resigned in 2020 that it was “gut-wrenching” to leave many goals unfinished.
He cited a lifelong battle with the intestinal disease ulcerative colitis as his reason for stepping down.
Described by some as an ultra-nationalist, supporters lauded his efforts to strengthen Japan’s relationship with the US.
Abe is carried on a stretcher as he arrives at a hospitalCredit: Reuters
Abe was praised for strengthening Japan’s ties with the USCredit: AFP 
