On Wednesday, January 21st, the Nara District Court in Japan issued a first-instance verdict in the case of the former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s assassination. The court sentenced the 45-year-old defendant, Tetsuya Yamashita, to life imprisonment.
The ruling stated that on July 8, 2022, around 11:30 a.m., the defendant fired multiple shots from a homemade gun at Shinzo Abe, who was giving a street speech in front of the Nara City Kintetsu Yamato-Saidaiji Station. The gunfire resulted in Abe’s death. The judges pointed out that the incident took place in a crowded street where a speech was being delivered, posing a high risk not only to the victim but also to other civilians in the vicinity.
In the first trial held in October 2025, Yamashita admitted to committing the murder. The focus of the trial shifted to sentencing. The prosecution argued that any act of violence aimed at catalyzing social change is intolerable, requesting a life sentence. On the other hand, the defense cited the defendant’s upbringing and family hardships, seeking a maximum of 20 years of imprisonment with a set term. The panel of judges ultimately deemed the case to have significant social repercussions, making a lenient sentence difficult.
The court determined that the homemade gun used by the defendant had sufficient lethality, its structure and power falling within the scope outlined by the Firearms and Swords Control Law at the time, thus rejecting the defense’s arguments against the relevant charges. The verdict also highlighted the defendant’s full awareness of the lethal potential of the weapon.
During the trial, it was revealed that Yamashita had experienced a tumultuous family environment since childhood. In 1991, when he was in elementary school, his mother joined the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly known as the Unification Church), donating approximately 100 million yen (about $640,000) to the cult using funds from her deceased husband’s insurance, which plunged the family into prolonged financial hardship. The defendant had a strained relationship with his mother, leading to ongoing family conflicts.
The prosecution disclosed that Yamashita initially planned to attack senior members of the cult but abandoned the idea due to the inability to track their movements. Subsequently, upon seeing a video message sent by Abe to a friendly group associated with the cult, Yamashita identified Abe as “the key figure in the connection between the cult and politics,” shifting his target to Abe in an attempt to draw attention and criticism towards the cult from society.
The court acknowledged that while the defendant’s upbringing was marked by adversity, it was not sufficient to significantly mitigate his criminal liability, emphasizing that disregard for human life is unforgivable.
During the trial, Akie Abe, the widow of Shinzo Abe, made a statement through her lawyer. She expressed the enduring grief of suddenly losing her husband and the long-standing sense of loss that will accompany her for a lifetime, urging the defendant to face his own guilt and bear the consequences of his actions.