politics
January 22, 2026
Assassin of ex-Japanese PM jailed for life
The Nara District Court has sentenced the killer of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to a life term
TL;DR
- Tetsuya Yamagami sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of Shinzo Abe.
- Abe was campaigning for his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) when assassinated.
- Yamagami testified to holding a grudge against the Unification Church after his mother donated the family's savings.
- He targeted Abe because the former prime minister had supported an event linked to the church.
- An LDP investigation found over a hundred lawmakers had connections to the Unification Church.
- The LDP and the Unification Church historically shared opposition to communism.
- Following Abe's assassination, the LDP publicly distanced itself from the church.
- A court ordered the dissolution of the Unification Church's Japanese branch.