Former Japanese PM Assassin Gets Life Sentence

(MENAFN) A Japanese court handed down a life sentence Wednesday to the gunman who killed former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a 2022 attack that exposed explosive ties between Japan’s ruling party and a controversial religious organization.

Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, was taken into custody immediately after shooting Abe during a campaign event in Nara, where the nation’s longest-tenured prime minister was stumping for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Last October, Yamagami entered a guilty plea before the Nara District Court.

The proceedings threw a spotlight on connections linking the LDP to the Unification Church—a South Korean religious movement established in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon, who declared himself a messiah. Detractors characterize the organization as a profit-driven cult.

According to media accounts, Yamagami testified that resentment toward the church—popularly known as the Moonies—drove his actions after his mother funneled the family’s finances into the group. The gunman stated he selected Abe as his target due to the former leader’s endorsement of an event tied to a church-affiliated organization.

An internal LDP probe uncovered links between more than one hundred party legislators and the Unification Church. The conservative Japanese political organization and the religious group historically aligned on resistance to communism and progressive movements.

The assassination forced then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to publicly sever the LDP’s relationship with the church. In March of last year, the Tokyo District Court mandated the disbanding of the organization’s Japanese operations.

Though Abe remains a polarizing figure within Japan, international leaders praised his diplomatic acumen and relationship-building capabilities. Russian President Vladimir Putin received Abe’s widow, Akie, at the Kremlin last May.

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