TOKYO, January 21. /TASS/. Japan’s Nara District Court found Tetsuya Yamagami guilty of killing ex-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with a homemade gun in July 2022 and sentenced him to life in prison.

Yamagami’s defense has requested a 20-year prison sentence for the man, who pleaded guilty to premeditated murder and violating gun control laws.

His lawyers insisted that he committed the murder under stress from his family situation, caused by his mother allegiance to a religious group widely known as the Unification Church.

In July 2022, Tetsuya Yamagami shot former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the back as he spoke at an election rally on a street in the city of Nara, southwest of Japan's main island of Honshu. The shooter was captured and arrested by the murdered politician's guards at the scene.

The gunman explained that he had targeted the ex-prime minister because he was certain about his ties with the Unification Church, a religious group that the man blamed for his family’s troubles. Yamagami’s mother poured all her assets into this religious organization, which resulted in the family’s bankruptcy.

Subsequent investigation showed that many politicians, including members of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party and opposition groups, had ties with this religious institution. In spring 2025, the Tokyo District Court ordered the church to be dissolved.