Yamagami gets life sentence for 2022 murder of Shinzo Abe

ASAHI
January 21, 2026

The Nara District Court sentenced Tetsuya Yamagami to life imprisonment on Jan. 21 over the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022.

Tetsuya Yamagami listens to the judge's ruling at the Nara District Court on Jan. 21. (Illustration by Eri Iwasaki)

NARA—The Nara District Court on Jan. 21 sentenced Tetsuya Yamagami to life in prison for the murder of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The court, showing no lenience for the 45-year-old who admitted to killing Abe with a homemade gun in July 2022, sided with the prosecution’s argument that the attack was “a grave incident unprecedented in postwar history.”

Yamagami’s defense team had argued that he should be sentenced to “20 years in prison at the most,” considering the background to the shooting.

A key point in the trial was the defendant’s upbringing under a mother who made large donations to the former Unification Church, now officially called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.

Yamagami said the donations bankrupted the family and destroyed his life. He said he targeted Abe because of his close ties with the organization.

“The ruling acknowledged that the Unification Church’s influence on the family was a remote cause of (the incident) but accepted the prosecution’s argument that it was not directly linked to it,” Yamagami’s defense team said at a news conference after the ruling. “Naturally, we must consider filing an appeal.”

The lay judge trial began in October last year.

Twelve people, including Yamagami’s mother, younger sister and police officers, were summoned to testify as witnesses.

The defendant himself underwent five rounds of questioning.

‘DANGEROUS AND MALICIOUS’

Yamagami entered the courtroom wearing the same black long-sleeved shirt and beige trousers he had worn in previous hearings.

After the court session began, Presiding Judge Shinichi Tanaka signaled the defendant to sit in the chair at the witness stand.

Yamagami walked forward at a relaxed pace, bowed once and took his seat. He kept gazing downward when the judge read out the charges and handed down the sentence.

After the life sentence was delivered, Yamagami bowed once, slowly returned to his seat on the defense side, rolled up the sleeves on both arms to his elbows, and listened to the reasoning for the verdict and sentence.

The district court acknowledged all the facts presented in the prosecution’s indictment.

The judge pointed out that there was a “leap” between Yamagami’s unfortunate upbringing and the circumstances leading to the crime.

“(The crime) was none other than the defendant’s own decision,” Tanaka said. “It cannot be said that his upbringing influenced his decision-making.”

The judge added: “The maliciousness and danger are the most severe among similar cases, and there are no extenuating circumstances to be given significant weight.”

The prosecution and the defense had also argued whether the shooting of the handmade gun constituted the crime of “discharge” under the firearms and swords control law.

The court sided with the prosecutors, ruling that the handmade gun qualified as a “cannon” that had lethal capabilities.

Emphasizing that others could have been hit in the shooting, the judge noted that about 300 people were listening to Abe’s speech nearby, and officials and security police were around the podium.

“It threatened public safety and was extremely dangerous and malicious. It cannot be overlooked that it caused great confusion at the scene and instilled fear in those present,” Tanaka said.

Regarding Abe’s widow, Akie, the judge said, “She suddenly lost her husband, and her great sense of loss is understandable.”

The ruling noted that Yamagami came to harbor anger toward the former Unification Church because his mother’s donations of tens of millions of yen had left the family in financial distress.

The court also recognized that Yamagami was deeply shocked by his older brother’s suicide in 2015.

Yamagami began manufacturing a gun with the intention to attack a church official who was visiting Japan. But he eventually came up with the idea of shooting Abe as an influential figure connected with the church, the verdict said.

Hiroyuki Omae, deputy chief prosecutor of the Nara District Public Prosecutors Office, said in a statement, “We believe that the prosecution’s arguments were accepted, both in the finding of facts and in the sentencing.”

MIXED REACTIONS

In response to the ruling, Akie Abe released a statement through her lawyer.

“I feel that a chapter has closed on the long days since my husband’s sudden death,” the statement said.

She expressed her gratitude to those involved in the investigation and had a message for the killer.

“I want the defendant to squarely face what he has done and atone for the crime of taking the life of my husband, my irreplaceable family member. I will continue to look forward, carry on my husband’s legacy, and live each day to the fullest,” her statement said.

The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification declined to comment on the ruling.

The Tokyo District Court in 2023 ordered the church to disband following a government investigation into its shady financial practices, including its collection of donations from followers. The investigation noted the harmful effects the church’s activities had on the followers’ children.

Eito Suzuki, a journalist who has been following issues involving the church, said Yamagami’s sentence is “too severe.”

“This is a case that occurred against a backdrop where a victim of the social problem known as ‘second-generation religious followers’ was robbed of his place in life,” Suzuki said.

He added: “It was a sentence that does not allow a person who had their place in society taken away like that to return to society. Is it right to make him bear this all by himself?”