Defendant Revealed Details of Killing Abe

In the 12th trial on assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Nara District Court, the defendant Tetsuya Yamagami revealed the details of shooting Abe at election campaign rally in Nara city on July 8th, 2022. Yamagami told that the reason why he targeted Abe was his vengeance on Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU), or former Unification Church. It was because he thought Abe should be the main character in the relationship between the FFWPU and politics. 

According to his testimony at the court, Yamagami made a gunshot on the building of FFWPU’s branch in Nara the day before he killed Abe. It was to notice the people realize that shooting of Abe would be related to the religious organization. Although he went to Okayama to shoot Abe in his campaign rally the same day, he could not achieve it due to heavy guard around Abe. On his way back home, he realized that Abe would have another rally in Nara next day. Yamagami recognized it as a destiny.

 

During Abe’s speech in front of Yamato-Saidaiji station in Nara, Yamagami approached Abe from his back. As he did not have good chance to shoot Abe beyond the guard, Yamagami found a moment in which guardsmen‘s attention was distracted by a bicycle rider, and shot Abe twice.

 

He was not sure whether his gunshot caught Abe, because the audience looked not responding to the shooting. He tried to be not minding anything when he made two shots, abiding by an instruction he had read in a book. When he was arrested after the second shot, he asked the police whether his bullet had caught Abe. Asked about that conversation in the court, Yamagami answered that he slightly remembered that moment.

 

The biggest question in the incident has been why Yamagami targeted Abe. In the hearing, Yamagami explained that he thought Abe was at the center of relationship between FFWPU and politics. Yamagami had been annoyed with Abe’s video message to FFWPU to support the organization. He testified that he could not accept the development of relationship of FFWPU and Abe. Then his hate and hostility against Abe was enhanced.

 

Yamagami had no choice to aim at another politician, because he thought other political figure was too weak to express his sentiment of vengeance. To the question whether he had no choice of stopping shooting Abe, Yamagami told that he could not because he had spent money in preparing for shooting with guns, and because stopping it would have been his another defeat to FFWPU.

 

One of the jurors asked Yamagami whether he achieved his goal with the assassination. “I cannot answer the question, because there would be a lot of problems,” replied Yamagami. It is possible that Yamagami was realizing the significance of killing Abe.

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