Jan 13, 2023 - World

Suspect in assassination of Japan's Shinzo Abe charged

Herb Scribner

Tetsuya Yamagami, the man accused of murdering former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is transferred from the Nara Nishi police station for psychiatric examination in Nara on July 25, 2022 — Tetsuya Yamagami is escorted by police. Photo: Jiji Press/AFP via Getty Images

The suspect accused of assassinating former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was formally charged with murder Friday, the Associated Press reports.

Driving the news: Tetsuya Yamagami was arrested soon after Abe's death after he allegedly shot the former prime minister with a homemade gun last July.

Yamagami underwent a mental evaluation for the last six months, which showed he is mentally fit to stand trial, prosecutors said, per AP.
He was charged with murder Friday and faces an additional charge for violating a gun control law, AP reports, citing the Nara District Court.

What they're saying: Masaaki Furukawa, one of Yamagami's lawyers, told the AP that Yamagami will have to take responsibility for the shooting and that his lawyers will seek to reduce his sentence.

Flashback: Abe died on July 9, 2022, after he was shot while giving a campaign speech in the city of Nara. He was 67.

Yamagami reportedly targeted Abe over his apparent ties to the Unification Church, which he alleged bankrupted his mother, Reuters reports.
Yamagami wrote in a letter before the shooting that Abe was "nothing more than one of the Unification Church's most powerful sympathizers," according to the New York Times.

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