Abe’s Assassin Apologizes in Court, Unleashes National Debate on Religion and Politics

The courtroom in Nara fell unusually still as Tetsuya Yamagami, the man who assassinated former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022, finally turned his words toward the people most directly scarred by his act: Abe’s family.[1]

During the 14th hearing at the Nara District Court on December 4, Yamagami offered his first apology to Abe’s bereaved family, more than three years after the shooting that shocked Japan and the world.[1] He told the court he felt “deeply sorry” toward Abe’s widow, Akie Abe, and other relatives, acknowledging the pain his actions have caused them.[1] Akie, who had attended the previous day’s session to give a powerful victim statement, was not in the courtroom when he spoke.[1]

When prosecutors pressed him on how he viewed the taking of another person’s life, Yamagami admitted that he had imposed “three and a half years of suffering” on Abe’s family and added, “As I, too, have lost a close family member, I have no excuse.”[1] His words hinted at the troubled family history that would later be laid bare in court.

A killing that changed Japan

Shinzo Abe, 67, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, was shot at close range on July 8, 2022, while delivering a campaign speech in Nara, two days before elections to the upper house of parliament.[1][2] The attack, carried out with a homemade firearm, stunned a country where gun violence is rare and high-profile political assassinations are almost unheard of.[1][2]

Yamagami was arrested at the scene and later admitted to targeting Abe not out of personal hatred, but because he believed the former leader had deep ties to the Unification Church, a controversial religious group now formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.[1][2]

A life shaped by the Unification Church

In court, and in earlier statements, Yamagami explained that his resentment was directed at the Unification Church, which he accused of destroying his family’s finances and future.[1][2] His mother, a devoted follower, had donated around 100 million yen to the organisation, pushing the family into bankruptcy and leaving deep scars on their home life.[1]

A psychiatric evaluation presented during the trial traced two major turning points in his life: the discovery of his mother’s massive donations and the suicide of his older brother.[1] According to the evaluating doctor, these events were central in shaping Yamagami’s motives and state of mind.[1] The doctor testified that Yamagami did not suffer from a mental disorder, and that his thinking — however extreme and criminal — was understandable in light of his life history and personality.[1]

Blocked from reaching church leaders, Yamagami decided to target a politician he saw as the group’s most influential supporter in Japanese politics.[1][2] In his own words from earlier writings, Abe was “not my enemy, originally” but “one of the Unification Church’s sympathizers who wields the most influence in the real world.”[2]

Courtroom apology, unresolved contradictions

Yamagami has pleaded guilty to assassinating Abe, and there is no dispute over the basic facts of the crime.[3] Yet his latest courtroom appearance revealed a man who, while apologising to the family, did not renounce the broader effects of his act.

He told the court he welcomed the recent dissolution order against the Unification Church issued by another district court, and the heightened public attention on the struggles of so‑called “second-generation followers” — children raised in high-demand religious groups who suffer from financial and psychological strain.[1] “I think this is how society should be,” he said, pointing to the social debate that followed the assassination.[1]

The tension in his testimony is stark: on one hand, an expression of remorse for the grief forced on Abe’s family; on the other, a sense of vindication that his actions accelerated scrutiny of the Unification Church and its political connections.

The human cost on both sides

His brief but pointed apology came just a day after Akie Abe addressed the court as a victim.[1] While her full remarks were not made public in detail, her appearance symbolised the enduring pain borne by the family: years of public attention, political controversy, and the personal loss of a husband and loved one.

Yamagami’s own family has also been pulled into the spotlight. His mother, still a member of the Unification Church, has said her faith has only deepened since the assassination.[2] She has expressed apologies to Akie Abe and to the church itself, yet rejected the idea that her donations alone drove her son to kill, instead blaming a lack of familial love.[2] Yamagami, for his part, has refused all contact with her while in detention, even as he continues to receive and acknowledge letters from supporters.[2]

These cross‑currents of grief, blame, faith, and politics have turned the case into more than a murder trial. It has become a mirror reflecting some of Japan’s most uncomfortable questions:
– How far should religious organisations be allowed to solicit donations?
– What responsibility do politicians bear when they court support from controversial groups?
– Can a political assassination that exposes real problems ever be separated from the profound wrong of taking a life?

What his apology might mean

For Abe’s family, Yamagami’s words may offer little comfort. No courtroom statement can undo the violence of that summer day in Nara or restore a husband, brother, or son. Yet his decision, after years of silence on this point, to look — even indirectly — at the pain he caused them marks a turning point in the narrative around the case.[1]

His apology underscores a complicated reality: a man who insists he had “no ill will whatsoever” toward the Abe family yet chose a path that guaranteed their suffering; a defendant who is deeply critical of a religious organisation but now stands at the centre of a national debate that may reshape Japan’s approach to faith and politics.[1]

As his trial continues, the court will ultimately decide his legal fate. The moral reckoning, however — for Yamagami, for the Abe family, for the Unification Church, and for Japanese society — will likely extend far beyond the verdict.

Original source: BBC News – World – Man who killed ex-Japan PM Shinzo Abe apologises to his family