Tetsuya Yamagami, the man who murdered former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, sentenced to life in prison

The president of the Nara District Court (western Japan), Judge Shinichi Tanaka, handed down a sentence that corresponds to the Prosecutor’s request against Abe’s confessed murderer, who according to NHK He listened to the verdict with his head bowed. Yamagami, 45, already pleaded guilty to the main charges at the beginning of the process at the end of last October.

The attack, which cost the politician his life in the city of Nara while he was participating in an electoral event, was motivated by the former president’s alleged links with the religious group known as the Unification Churchor ‘Moon sect’.

The convicted man accused the group of capturing his mother and bankrupting his family.

The crime shocked the world and, at the same time, uncovered a scandal over the links of some members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) with the controversial organization.

Some theories maintain that the group’s arrival in Japan was facilitated by the former president. Nobuo KishiAbe’s grandfather, which led Yamagami to take out his resentment on his political heir.

The assassination made many victims of the creed in Japan They will bring their stories to light, especially children of members who claim to have been robbed and extorted by their parents to give their assets to the group.

The former Japanese president Fumio Kishida initiated, following Abe’s assassination, an investigation into the activities of the Unification Church, after which the Government requested deprive the organization of tax advantages which it enjoyed as a religious organization.

Last March, a Japanese court ordered the dissolution of the ‘Moon sect’, founded in 1954 in South Korea, as a religious organization, although the group appealed the decision and the judicial process continues.

Founded in 1954 in South Korea, where it is the subject of increasing scrutiny for its donations to politicians, the group is known for its massive weddings and among the points investigated by the Japanese Government are the ‘spiritual sales’ with which it supposedly coerces its members to buy objects at exorbitant prices.