Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister of Japan and a serving member of the House of Representatives, was assassinated on July 8 while speaking at a political event outside Yamato-Saidaiji Station in Nara City, Nara Prefecture, Japan. While delivering a campaign speech for a Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) candidate, he was shot from behind at close range by a man with a homemade firearm. Abe was transported by a medical helicopter to Nara Medical University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The suspect, 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami (Japanese: 山上 徹也), was arrested at the scene for attempted murder; the charge was later upgraded to murder after Abe was pronounced dead. Yamagami told investigators that he had shot Abe in relation to a grudge he held against the Unification Church (UC), to which Abe and his family had political ties, over his mother’s bankruptcy in 2002.
The alleged motive brought renewed interest from Japanese society and media regarding criticism against the UC’s alleged practice of pressuring believers into making exorbitant donations. Japanese dignitaries and legislators have been forced to disclose their relationship with the UC to the public. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reshuffled the cabinet earlier on August 10 but one of the few retaining ministers, Daishiro Yamagiwa, resigned on October 24 as the approval of the cabinet continued to plummet over the UC scandal. The assassination triggered an announcement on August 31 that the LDP would no longer have any relationship with the UC and its associated organizations, and would expel its members if they did not break ties with the UC.
