The Nara District Public Prosecutor's Office has indicted Tetsuya Yamagami on charges of murder and firearms and swords law violations in July 2018, when former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot and killed while giving a speech in Nara.
Tetsuya Yamagami (42), an unemployed defendant from Nara City, was indicted.
According to the Nara District Public Prosecutor's Office, Yamagami was accused of killing former Prime Minister Abe, who was giving a speech in Nara last July, with a homemade gun.
In response to police investigations so far, defendant Yamagami stated that he caused the incident after growing a grudge against the "Family Federation for World Peace and Unification," to which his mother had made a large donation, and the former Unification Church. Regarding the reason for aiming for former Prime Minister Abe, he stated that he thought he had a close relationship with the cult.
The Nara District Public Prosecutor's Office has conducted a psychiatric evaluation for nearly half a year from July last year to the 10th of this month, but has determined that he has criminal responsibility.
In addition to the appraisal results, it is believed that Yamagami was manufacturing guns and that he planned the shooting carefully based on the schedule of former Prime Minister Abe's speech.
In the future, it is expected that the case will be tried in a lay judge trial, and the focus will be on how much the circumstances and motives of the incident will be clarified, and what Yamagami will say in court.