Man pleads guilty to killing Shinzo Abe, former prime minister of Japan

The man accused of assassinating former prime minister Shinzo Abe of Japan in 2022 pleaded guilty to the killing Tuesday, according to Japan's public broadcaster NHK.

Tetsuya Yamagami (45), is accused of killing Abe, the longest serving leader in Japan's history, by shooting him in the street with a homemade gun during an election rally. Tuesday was the first day of his trial in a district court in the city of Nara, according to NHK.

He faces charges including murder and violating Japan's gun control laws. The murder charge carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment or the death penalty.

"Everything is true. There is no doubt that I did this," Yamagami said when asked by the judge how he responded to the charges, NHK reported.

Abe was gunned down in July 2022 in the city of Nara while stumping on behalf of a junior politician from his party during that year's parliamentary election campaign. The attack stunned the nation, particularly as it involved a gun, in a country with strict gun laws. Yamagami was arrested at the scene and admitted to the shooting.

Abe, Japan's most influential former prime minister, was 67. He made history by leading Japan for nearly eight consecutive years from 2012 to 2020. He helped pull his country out of economic malaise through a program known as Abenomics. But he fell short of his primary ambition, to unfetter Japan's military after decades of postwar pacifism.

The attack on Abe cast a spotlight on the Unification Church, whom Yamagami claimed had bankrupted his family by forcing his mother, a member, to turn over her life savings. He blamed Abe, whom he perceived as supporting the church. Earlier this year, a court in Tokyo ordered the Japanese branch of the Unification Church, which was founded in South Korea and has branches in scores of countries, to disband.

Yamagami's admittance of guilt Tuesday coincides with President Donald Trump's arrival in Japan as part of his multiday Asia trip. Abe was one of the few world leaders to maintain a consistently warm relationship with Trump, and the current Japanese prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, is a protégé of Abe. Among the gifts she gave Trump during his visit was a putter that had belonged to Abe.

Yamagami's legal team have indicated that they would not contest the charges but will seek a more lenient sentence by arguing that Yamagami's homemade gun does not fall within Japan's firearms control laws, and contending that Yamagami's mother's involvement in the Unification Church had a turbulent impact on Yamagami's family and life, NHK reported.

The prosecution acknowledged in opening statements that Yamagami had suffered hardship during his upbringing because of his mother's devotion to the church, but argued that that was not grounds to grant him a more lenient sentence, NHK reported.

The trial will continue into December and a verdict is expected in January, according to NHK.