The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the Nara District Public Prosecutor’s Office charged 42-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami with murder, Xinhua reported.
Published Date – Friday, January 13, 23 at 2:15pm
Tokyo: Japanese prosecutors on Friday indicted a man suspected of killing former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, local media reported.
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the Nara District Public Prosecutor’s Office charged 42-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami with murder, Xinhua reported.
He was also indicted for violating Japan’s gun control laws, the report said.
The formal charges come after Hill is undergoing an extended six-month psychiatric trial to determine his mental fitness to bear criminal responsibility for his actions.
On July 8 last year, Yamagami was suspected of shooting the former prime minister with a handgun at close range while delivering a speech in Nara Prefecture in the west two days before the upper house election, and was arrested on the spot.
Former Maritime Self-Defense Force worker Yamagami allegedly harbored a grudge against the controversial Unification Church for financially ruining his family by demanding huge donations from his mother.
This equates to about 100 million yen ($774,000).
According to reports, the killer believed that Abe had links to the dubious organization and was promoted by him, and claimed that this was one of the reasons for his assassination of the former prime minister.
