(Update) Abe Shooter Yamagami Pleads Guilty to Murder

From Jiji, Kyodo

October 28 2025

NARA – Tetsuya Yamagami, who is charged with murdering former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the western Japan city of Nara about three years ago, pleaded guilty at the first hearing of his trial at Nara District Court on Tuesday. 
   The 45-year-old defendant said that the charges against him were “all true.” Meanwhile, the defense contested the charge of firing a weapon in violation of the firearms and swords control law, arguing that the homemade gun he used in the attack was not covered by the law.
   The trial, presided over by Judge Shinichi Tanaka, is expected to focus on the severity of Yamagami’s punishment. The court is expected to hand down a ruling on Jan. 21, 2026.
   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 organization 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. It was revealed that Yamagami lost his father in 1984, years before his mother joined the controversial religious group in 1991. His older brother, resentful of their mother’s large donations, took his own life in 2015, while Yamagami attempted suicide in 2005.