Japan | Man who killed former PM Shinzo Abe sentenced to life in prison

NARA, Japan — More than three years after the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stunned Japan and reverberated around the world, the man who killed the country’s longest-serving leader was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday. The ruling brings formal closure to one of the most shocking crimes in Japan’s postwar history, while leaving unresolved questions about political accountability, religious influence, and the rare eruption of gun violence in a nation defined by its absence.

Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, was convicted by the Nara District Court of murder and violations of Japan’s firearms control laws for fatally shooting Abe on July 8, 2022. The attack took place in broad daylight while Abe was delivering a campaign speech in the western city of Nara. Yamagami was arrested at the scene after firing a homemade gun into the crowd, killing the former prime minister, who was 67 at the time.

In handing down the sentence, presiding Judge Shinichi Tanaka described the killing as “despicable” and “extremely dangerous and malicious,” emphasizing the gravity of using a firearm in a densely populated public space. Prosecutors had sought life imprisonment, calling the assassination “unprecedented in our postwar history” and citing its profound and destabilizing consequences for Japanese society. The defense, while not contesting guilt, argued for leniency and asked for a sentence of no more than 20 years.

Under Japan’s legal system, life imprisonment technically allows for the possibility of parole, though legal experts note that many inmates serving such sentences ultimately die in prison.

Public interest in the case remained intense until the final verdict. On Wednesday morning, long queues formed outside the courthouse as members of the public waited for tickets to observe the proceedings. Among them was Manabu Kawashima, a 31-year-old logistics worker, who said he came because Abe’s death felt like “the incident of the century.”

“I liked him while he was alive. His death was shocking,” Kawashima said. “I wanted to know about the man who killed someone I cared about.”

A guilty verdict had been widely expected. When the lay judge trial opened in October, Yamagami admitted to killing Abe. Under Japanese law, however, a trial proceeds even when a defendant confesses, allowing the court to fully examine motive, intent, and social impact.

Prosecutors argued that the murder was meticulously planned. Evidence presented at trial showed that Yamagami began constructing a lethal firearm in 2020, conducting repeated test-firing sessions in remote mountainous areas. The prosecution said this demonstrated a high level of premeditation and a clear intent to carry out a public assassination.

The case also forced Japan to confront its vulnerability to gun violence despite having some of the world’s strictest firearms regulations. So rare is gun crime in Japan that security officials at the scene initially failed to recognize the sound of the first shot. According to a subsequent police report, that moment of confusion delayed Abe’s rescue and contributed to the fatal outcome.

Beyond the mechanics of the crime, the trial cast an unforgiving spotlight on Yamagami’s personal history and the motive he said drove him to kill one of Japan’s most powerful political figures. Prosecutors and defense lawyers alike traced his actions to a deep resentment toward the Unification Church, a religious organization founded in South Korea in 1954 and often referred to as a cult by critics.

Yamagami told the court that his family had been devastated by his mother’s devotion to the church. According to his defense team, after the suicide of her husband and while caring for another gravely ill son, Yamagami’s mother poured all her assets into the church in a desperate attempt to “salvage” her family. Her donations eventually reached around 100 million yen — roughly $1 million at the time — plunging the family into bankruptcy.

As a result, Yamagami was forced to abandon plans for higher education. In 2005, he attempted to take his own life, and later, his brother also died by suicide. The defense described his upbringing as one marked by “religious abuse” and argued that these experiences shaped his distorted belief that violence was the only way to draw attention to the harm he associated with the church.

Prosecutors countered that while his background was tragic, it did not justify targeting Abe. They said Yamagami believed that killing someone as influential as the former prime minister would focus national attention on the Unification Church and fuel public criticism of its political connections. Abe had appeared at events organized by groups affiliated with the church and had once sent a video message to one such gathering.

The assassination triggered sweeping political fallout. Subsequent investigations revealed extensive ties between the Unification Church and lawmakers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). An internal party probe found that more than 100 lawmakers had some form of relationship with the group, ranging from event appearances to campaign support. The revelations prompted four cabinet ministers to resign and damaged public trust in a party that has governed Japan for most of the postwar era.

Although Abe was no longer prime minister at the time of his death, he remained a dominant figure within the LDP. He had served a total of 3,188 days over two terms, stepping down in September 2020 for health reasons. His absence left a power vacuum that contributed to internal instability, two leadership contests, and a revolving door of prime ministers.

Abe’s former protégé, Sanae Takaichi, has since risen to lead both the government and the LDP, but the party’s grip on power has weakened amid voter backlash over the church scandal.

Public reaction to Yamagami’s life sentence was mixed. Katsunari Ota, a 56-year-old YouTuber who attended the verdict, said the punishment was too lenient. “Since he killed the longest-serving prime minister in the way he did, I think he should have gotten the death penalty,” he said. Sitting nearby, Satoru Hojo, a 67-year-old monk, took the opposite view, calling capital punishment “absolutely outrageous.”

Yamagami’s defense team said they would consult with their client before deciding whether to appeal.

Internationally, Abe was a polarizing but influential figure. While divisive at home, he forged strong ties abroad, most notably with U.S. President Donald Trump. Abe was the first foreign leader to meet Trump after his 2016 election victory, and the two developed a close personal relationship symbolized by rounds of golf in both countries. Prime Minister Takaichi has frequently referenced that bond in her own dealings with Trump.

As Japan absorbs the final judgment in the Abe assassination, the sentence closes a legal chapter but leaves lasting questions about political transparency, religious influence, and security in a society long defined by its sense of public safety.

Source: Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Staff, January 21, 2026

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde