A man was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday for assassinating Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, bringing an end to a case that shocked the nation and provoked debate about political violence and broader societal issues.
Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, was found guilty of killing Mr. Abe by a district court in the western city of Nara. He admitted in October to shooting Mr. Abe with a homemade gun at an election rally in Nara in 2022, but his lawyers had sought a shorter sentence.
The case of Mr. Yamagami, who was unemployed and had briefly served in Japan’s military, known as the Self-Defense Forces, divided Japanese society.
Some people expressed sympathy for him because of his difficult childhood; his family faced economic hardships, and his father and brother both died by suicide. Others said he should receive a harsh penalty for killing Mr. Abe, a towering figure in Japanese politics who stepped down in 2020. Mr. Abe, 67, was stumping for a junior politician near a train station in Nara when he was shot in the neck.
During the trial, which lasted about two months, Mr. Yamagami said he shot Mr. Abe because he perceived him as supporting the powerful Unification Church, a South Korea-based group with substantial operations in Japan. Mr. Yamagami said the church had bankrupted his family by forcing his mother, a member, to turn over her life savings.
“I felt that striking back at the Unification Church — or, rather, dealing them a significant hit — was the very meaning of my life,” he said during the trial.
The trial drew intense interest in Japan, where political violence and shootings are rare. The last time such a high-profile assassination occurred was in 1936, when two former prime ministers were killed during a coup by the Imperial Japanese Army.
In Nara, nearly 700 people lined up outside the courthouse on Wednesday, hoping to be among the 33 members of the public allowed inside the courtroom.
Kiuko Notoya contributed reporting from Tokyo.
Javier C. Hernández is the Tokyo bureau chief for The Times, leading coverage of Japan and the region. He has reported from Asia for much of the past decade, previously serving as China correspondent in Beijing.
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