Shinzo Abe murder suspect formally charged after six-month psychiatric evaluation
- Tetsuya Yamagami was arrested immediately after allegedly shooting the former leader while he was making a speech outside a railway station in July
- After claiming he killed Abe because of links to a religious group, Yamagami had months of psychiatric evaluation that showed he is fit to stand trial
Japanese prosecutors formally charged the suspect in the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with murder, sending him to stand trial, a court said on Friday.
Tetsuya Yamagami was arrested immediately after allegedly shooting Abe with a home-made gun as the former leader was making a campaign speech in July outside a railway station in Nara in Western Japan. He then underwent a nearly six-month psychiatric evaluation, which prosecutors said showed he is fit to stand trial.
Yamagami was also charged with violating a gun control law, according to the Nara District Court.
Police have said Yamagami told them that he killed Abe, one of Japan’s most influential and divisive politicians, because of Abe’s apparent links to a religious group that he hated. In his statements and in social media postings attributed to him, Yamagami said he developed a grudge because his mother had made massive donations to the Unification Church that bankrupted his family and ruined his life.
One of his lawyers, Masaaki Furukawa, said on Thursday that Yamagami will have to take responsibility for the serious consequences of his alleged actions and that his defence lawyers will do their best to reduce his sentence.
