Judge Says of Ex-PM Abe Killer: “It cannot be said that his background had a great impact” [Podcast Episode]

By Barrier Free Japan

January 23 2026

NARA – The man who killed former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was given an indefinite prison term on Wednesday for the fatal shooting with a homemade gun in the western Japan city of Nara in 2022.

 Referring to Yamagami’s background, the ruling said, “he became unable to find a haven within the family” after his mother became a follower of the controversial religious group known as the Unification Church. Presiding Judge Shinichi Tanaka suggested that the motive claimed was irrational, stating, “It cannot be said that his background had a great impact.” During the trial, the defense argued that, given Yamagami’s troubled background related to the controversial religious group Unification Church, with which Abe allegedly had ties, his sentence should be no more than 20 years.

Defendant Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, plans to decide next week whether to appeal his sentence. Yoshihide Sakurai, a specially appointed professor of sociology of religion at Hokkaido University, who attended the trial as a defense witness, said after meeting with Yamagami on Thursday, that Yamagami appeared to have expected a long prison sentence and did not express dissatisfaction with the verdict.

Episode notes:

‘Judge in Ex-PM Abe Trial Says of Killer: “It cannot be said that his background had a great impact”’:

Judge in Ex-PM Abe Trial Says of Killer: “It cannot be said that his background had a great impact”