Abe Shooter to Undergo Psychiatric Examination

From Jiji

July 23 2022

TOKYO – The suspect in the fatal shooting of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to undergo an examination of his mental condition around the time of the incident, investigative sources said Saturday.

The Nara District Public Prosecutors Office has asked Nara District Court for the psychiatric examination of Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, which was approved. Yamagami will be transferred to a medical institution for the mental check and will stay at the facility until Nov. 29, according to the sources.

The suspect’s detention and questioning will be halted during the mental examination. Prosecutors will determine whether Yamagami can bear criminal liability based on the examination before making a decision on whether to indict the suspect.

Yamagami is suspected of murdering Abe by shooting the former Japanese leader during a stump speech in front of Kintetsu Railway Co.’s Yamato-Saidaiji Station in the western Japan city of Nara around 11:30 a.m. on July 8 (2:30 a.m. GMT).

Yamagami has told Nara prefectural police that he had a long-standing grudge against the religious group known as the Unification Church, of which his mother is a member.