Shinzo Abe assassination case: In the latest update to Shinzo Abe's assassination case, the Japanese prosecutors formally charged the suspect with the murder of the former Prime Minister. According to media reports, Abe was shot dead by Tetsuya Yamagami with a homemade gun. The incident had taken in July 2022 when the former leader was making a campaign speech outside a railway station in Nara in western Japan.
Following the incident, Yamagami was sent to an Osaka detention facility for a nearly six-month mental evaluation, which ended on Tuesday, January 10. The Nara police has now once again taken Yamagami into custody.
Accused mentally fit to stand trial: Prosecutors
Meanwhile, citing the suspect's mental evaluation results, prosecutors said he is fit enough to go through the trial. They further said that Yamagami has also been charged with violating a gun control law.
According to police, Yamagami told them that he killed Abe, one of Japan's most influential and divisive politicians, because of Abe's apparent links to a religious group that he hated.
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Why Yamagami killed Abe?
In his statements and in social media postings attributed to him, Yamagami said he developed a grudge because his mother had made massive donations to the Unification Church that bankrupted his family and ruined his life.
Some Japanese have expressed sympathy for Yamagami, especially those who also suffered as children of followers of the South Korea-based Unification Church, which is known for pressuring adherents into making big donations and is considered a cult in Japan.
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People request leniency for Yamagami
Thousands of people have signed a petition requesting leniency for Yamagami, and others have sent care packages to his relatives or the detention centre.
The investigation into the case has led to revelations of years of cozy ties between Abe's governing Liberal Democratic Party and the church since Abe's grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, helped the church take root in Japan in the 1960s over shared interests in conservative and anti-communist causes.
(With inputs from AP)