Shinzo Abe's killer will be detained until late November and undergo a mental evaluation.
Tetsuya Yamagami&'s detention was to end later this month.
Officials announced on Monday that the murderer of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will
remain in custody until late November. This will allow for a mental health evaluation so the public
prosecutor may decide whether or not to file formal charges and send the case to trial.
Tetsuya Yamagami, was arrested after shooting Abe in the back while the former leader was
giving an election campaign speech outside a crowded train station in western Japan on July 8.
The official time to file formal charges will be held on November 29. However, the Nara District
Court stated that it has given the prosecution permission to hold the suspect until then to
assess his mental capabilities.
Yamagami's current detention was to expire later this month.
Yamagami, 41, had told police that he had killed Abe because of his ties to a religious group he
hated. His statements and other evidence suggest that he came to a state of despair due to the
fact that his mother had donated massive amounts of money to the Unification Church, and
that the family was bankrupt.
Abe's assassination shed light on decades of dubious ties between his party and the conservative church.
Members of Japan's main opposition Democratic Constitutional Party, met Monday. They
acknowledged plans to look into how the church impacted opposition to a change in Japanese
marriage law on the part of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
The party also said it would investigate if the new government's unit for children—to be
launched next spring— added "families" as part of its agency name because of the church's
pressure.
What is the Unification Church?
The church was founded in 1954 in Seoul, after the end of the Korean War, by the late
Reverend Sun Myung Moon. Christ built their doctrines, which were backed by fresh readings
of the Bible, conservative value systems that prioritize family, and fervent anti-communism.
Abe praised the group's work toward peace on the Korean Peninsula and its focus on family
values in his video message to the church's affiliate, the Universal Peace Foundation, in
September 2021.
A look at the church and ties to Japan's governing party and Abe's own family:
Abe's grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, who served as Prime Minister and shared Washington's
concerns about the growth of communism in Japan in the 1960s, is the first known connection
between the church and Japan's ruling party.
Abe became one of Japan's youngest Prime Ministers and one of Japan's most influential
politicians after the war. He led the country for nearly eight years before announcing his
resignation in August, 2020 for health reasons.
Abe's assassination was shocking and painful news for thousands of Japanese countries
worldwide.
Edited by: TeAnna Hernandez
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