Abe assassin appeals life sentence

The man who fatally shot former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022 appealed on Wednesday a Japanese court ruling last month sentencing him to life in prison, his lawyers said.

The defense team for Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, had asked the Nara District Court for a fixed-term sentence, citing hardships in his upbringing, but the court granted the life term sought by prosecutors.

"We filed a notice of appeal to obtain a chance to correct the lower court ruling following discussions with the defendant," chief defense counsel Masaaki Furukawa said in a statement, without elaborating.

The appeal was filed with the Osaka High Court by the Wednesday deadline following the lower court ruling on Jan 21

During the trial under a lay judge system, Yamagami admitted to shooting Abe, 67, with a handmade firearm during an election stump speech by the then former prime minister in the western Japan city of Nara on July 8, 2022.

According to the defense, his family suffered financial ruin due to his mother's donations to the Unification Church that amounted to 100 million yen.

Yamagami had told the court he believed Abe was "at the center of the Unification Church's political involvement" in Japan. Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister, remained an influential political figure even after resigning in 2020.

His defense sought a prison term of no more than 20 years on the grounds that the defendant was "a victim of abuse involving religion," saying he should be given a chance to contribute to society by drawing on his experience of having suffered harm at the hands of a religious group.

But the court, while acknowledging that Yamagami's upbringing involved significant hardship, said that the resolve to commit murder and carry it out was a "major leap" he had made himself and that Abe was "not at fault."

"The maliciousness and the high risk of firing multiple bullets in front of a large crowd with the intent to kill are significantly more serious than in other cases," the court said.

Yamagami's case shed light on the Unification Church's solicitation of ruinous donations from members, leading to a government investigation and the Tokyo District Court's subsequent order for the church to be dissolved.

With the church having appealed the order, the Tokyo High Court will deliver its decision on March 4, people familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

© KYODO