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'Everything Is True': Japan Ex-PM Shinzo Abe's Killer Pleads Guilty 3 Years After Assassination
Former Japan PM Shinzo Abe was assassinated during a campaign speech in July 2022.
A Japanese man accused of assassinating former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pleaded guilty on Tuesday, nearly three years after the shocking attack.
Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, faced charges of murder and violating arms control laws for allegedly using a homemade gun to fatally shoot Abe during a campaign speech in July 2022.
“Everything is true,” Yamagami reportedly told the court as proceedings began amid tight security. According to news agency Kyodo, the proceedings will conclude in mid-December.
His defence team acknowledged the murder charge but said they would contest other counts, including alleged violations of Japan’s strict firearms laws, arguing that Yamagami’s weapon was homemade.
The assassination stunned Japan, a country with some of the world’s toughest gun control laws and almost no history of political violence. For many, it marked a turning point, a violent intrusion into a society historically defined by civility and safety.
Yamagami’s motives are central to the case and have sparked widespread debate. According to prosecutors, the accused targeted Abe out of anger over his perceived connections with the Unification Church, a South Korea-based religious movement founded in the 1950s by Sun Myung Moon.
The Church, whose members are often referred to as “Moonies,” has long faced allegations of exploitation and aggressive fundraising, claims it continues to deny. Local media have reported that Yamagami’s mother donated about 100 million yen (roughly $1 million at the time) to the Church, a move that devastated the family’s finances and fueled his resentment.
Abe’s assassination triggered far-reaching political consequences, exposing a complex web of relationships between the Unification Church and Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). In the months that followed, four cabinet ministers were forced to resign over their alleged links to the movement.
Earlier this year, the Tokyo District Court ordered the dissolution of the Church’s Japanese branch, concluding that it inflicted “unprecedented damage” on society through its practices. The verdict was seen as a turning point in Japan’s efforts to regulate faith-based organizations accused of financial or psychological abuse.
Gun Laws Tightened After the Attack
The tragedy also spurred Japanese lawmakers into action on another front, tightening firearm regulations. Investigations after Abe’s death revealed that Yamagami had built his weapon from basic materials purchased online, exposing loopholes even in Japan’s stringent system.
Security officials at the scene had initially failed to identify the first shot as gunfire, delaying their response, a lapse that prompted public outrage. In 2024, Parliament passed new legislation making it a criminal offense to upload videos teaching people how to build guns or to post illegal weapon sales on social media. The new law imposes fines and possible jail terms of up to one year.
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