Tetsuya Yamagami, the man behind the fatal shooting of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, was found guilty and given a life prison sentence on Wednesday. Yamagami shot Abe in 2022 during a rally in Nara, and his sentencing comes three and a half years after the incident that shook Japan because of the country’s extremely low rate of gun violence.
Yamagami was arrested immediately after the shooting and pleaded guilty when his trial began last October, stating, “Everything is true. There is no doubt that I did this.” Judge Shinichi Tanaka handed down the sentence and said the fact that the 45-year-old “shot him from behind and did so when (Abe) was least expecting it” proved the act was “despicable and extremely malicious.”
Abe was Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, and Yamagami used a homemade weapon to kill him. While he was given a life sentence for the gravity of the crime, his defense argued that “religious abuse” motivated his actions in shooting the former prime minister.
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It should be noted that Yamagami’s mother was associated with the Unification Church and led the family into bankruptcy through donations to the religious institution. Abe had spoken at a number of church events, and his ties to the organization came to light during the investigation into his death.
During the trial, Yamagami’s sister also testified that the church had destroyed their lives. When Yamagami was asked the same question, he said that after his mother joined the church, he “felt my view of life and the way I think fundamentally changed.”
As reported by The Guardian, “The church, which critics describe as a cult, began exerting its influence on Japanese politics in the 1960s, forming alliances with conservatives, including Abe’s grandfather and postwar prime minister Nobusuke Kishi, who were sympathetic to its strong anti-communist message and opposition to trade unions.”
Abe’s association with the church angered Yamagami, and according to his defense, he “thought if he killed someone as influential as former prime minister Abe, he could draw public attention to the church and fuel public criticism of it.” His anger was further fueled by a video Abe sent to a group affiliated with the church. By killing the former prime minister, Yamagami sought to expose the truth about the religious organization and its ties to the politician.
A Japanese court sentenced a man who admitted assassinating former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to life imprisonment.
Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, earlier pleaded guilty to killing Abe in July 2022 during his election campaign speech in the western city of Nara. pic.twitter.com/IDLEuygSZ6
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) January 21, 2026
Judge Tanaka, despite handing down a life sentence, showed some agreement with Yamagami’s defense, noting, “it is undeniable that the defendant’s upbringing influenced the formation of his personality and his mindset … and that it even played a distant role.”
However, he added that since “each criminal action he took was based on nothing but his own decision-making, the process of which deserves strong condemnation.”
Among those who attended the trial, some appeared sympathetic to Yamagami, highlighting the damage he and his family faced because of his mother’s blind devotion to the Unification Church.
The case also highlighted the plight of other families in similar circumstances and led to the passage of a law aimed at preventing the “malicious” extraction of money from individuals by religious or other cultlike groups.
