Japanese prosecutors seek life sentence for shooter of former PM Abe

TOKYO - Japanese prosecutors demanded a life sentence for Tetsuya Yamagami, the man accused of fatally shooting former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2022, during the trial of the case at the Nara District Court on Thursday.

The trial proceedings have now concluded, and the court is scheduled to hand down its verdict in January 2026.

Abe was shot and killed on July 8, 2022, while delivering a campaign speech on a street in Nara in support of a Liberal Democratic Party candidate in the House of Councillors election. Yamagami was arrested at the scene.

Yamagami admitted to murdering Abe during earlier trial, saying that he committed the crime due to a grudge he held against the Unification Church, which he believed had close ties to Abe and other Japanese politicians.

Yamagami has said that massive donations -- likely some 100 million yen (about 641,000 US dollars) -- his mother made to the group caused his family's financial ruin.