The gunman accused of killing Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe pleaded guilty on Tuesday, three years after the assassination in broad daylight shocked the world.
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The slaying forced a reckoning in a country with little experience of gun violence, and ignited scrutiny of alleged ties between prominent conservative lawmakers and a secretive sect, the Unification Church.
“Everything is true,” Tetsuya Yamagami said at a court in the western city of Nara, admitting to the murder of the country’s longest-serving leader in July 2022.
The 45-year-old was led handcuffed into the room with a rope around his waist.
When the judge asked him to state his name, Yamagami, who was wearing a black T-shirt and had his long hair tied back, replied in a barely audible voice.
His lawyer said they would contest certain charges, including violations of arms control laws for allegedly using a handmade weapon.