Man Pleads Guilty to Murdering Japan's Former PM Shinzo Abe

Tetsuya Yamagami, the man accused of assassinating Japan's longest-serving Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022, admitted to the murder during the first hearing of his trial. Yamagami used a homemade gun and appeared calm in court, acknowledging his actions but his defense challenged some charges related to the weapon's classification under Japan's firearms laws. He blamed Abe for his ties to the controversial Unification Church, whose aggressive fundraising practices reportedly left Yamagami's family bankrupt after his mother donated about 100 million yen to the group. The assassination exposed deep connections between the Unification Church and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, leading to political fallout, including the resignation of cabinet ministers and a court-ordered dissolution of the Church's Japanese branch. The trial, which opened amidst a summit involving Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and U.S. President Donald Trump, is set to continue with multiple hearings before a verdict is expected. Abe was a towering political figure known for his economic policies and efforts to reform Japan's pacifist constitution, and his death shocked Japan, a nation with minimal gun violence.