Abe shooter Yamagami pleads guilty to murder

In its opening statement, the prosecution said that Yamagami had a grudge against the controversial Unification Church religious group, to which his mother had made large donations. He initially planned to target the group's leader and made 10 homemade guns, but gave up on the plan due to the Covid-19 pandemic and other reasons.

The defendant later learned that Abe had sent a video message to an organisation affiliated with the group. Believing that Abe had ties with the Unification Church, Yamagami thought that targeting the very famous former prime minister would attract public attention to the group and fuel criticism of it, prosecutors argued.

The trial is scheduled to run for 19 days, including a reserve session, with witness questioning set to begin on Wednesday. The defendant is slated to take the stand in five hearings from Nov. 20, and the trial will conclude on Dec. 18.

Before Tuesday's court hearing began in the early afternoon, more than 700 people lined up outside the court to watch the high-profile trial.

Yamagami entered the courtroom at around 2 p.m., wearing a black, long-sleeved shirt and dark grey pants. He had stubble, and his grown-out, partially greyed hair was tied back.

He was expressionless as the indictment was read aloud by the prosecution. He admitted to the charges in a quiet voice.

According to the indictment, Yamagami fired a homemade gun twice at Abe, who was delivering a stump speech on July 8, 2022, ahead of a House of Councillors election. The former prime minister died of blood loss caused by damage to his right and left subclavian arteries.

 [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]