Japanese prosecutors are expected to formally charge the suspect in the assassination of former PM Shinzo Abe with murder on Friday, his lawyer says.
“It’s an extremely serious case, but someone has to defend him,” Furukawa said. “Naturally, he will have to take criminal responsibility for the serious consequences he caused by allegedly firing his gun to take away the life of a politician, and we are tasked with doing our best to reduce his punishment.”Yamagami’s father, an executive of a company founded by the suspect’s grandfather, killed himself when Yamagami was 4 years old.
Some Japanese have expressed sympathy for Yamagami, especially those who also suffered as children of followers of the South Korea-based Unification Church, which isThousands of people have signed a petition requesting leniency for Yamagami, and others have sent care packages to his relatives or the detention center.
The investigation into the case has led to revelations of years of cozy ties between Abe’s governing Liberal Democratic Party and the church since Abe’s grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, helped the church take root in Japan in the 1960s over shared interests in conservative and anti-communist causes.
Current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s popularity has plunged over his handling of the church controversy and for insisting on holding aIn a September 2021 video message, Abe praised the Unification Church’s work for peace on the Korean Peninsula and its focus on traditional family values.
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