Mother of ex-Japan PM Abe’s shooter professes devotion to Unification Church

TOKYO - The mother of the man standing trial for assassinating former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022 apologised on Nov 13 for the act committed by her son over a grudge towards the Unification Church, while insisting that the large donations she made to the group was for the sake of her family.

At the seventh hearing on the case of Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, at the Nara District Court, his mother said in a quivering voice: “I am truly sorry that my second son, Tetsuya, committed a terrible crime. I sincerely apologise to all the people in this country.”

The focus of the high-profile trial under the lay judge system is on whether the court will grant leniency to Yamagami, as the defence argues that his personality and behaviour were shaped by an upbringing marked by religious abuse.

Yamagami’s mother, who appeared as a witness for the defense with her face shielded with a partition, confirmed she is a follower of the church and said she began attending meetings because “it purified my heart and made me kinder to my children and husband”.

She explained that her husband had been ill and an alcoholic at the time, and that she later made large donations to the church to cope with the stress of his suicide and her eldest son’s surgery.

Yamagami grew up with two siblings – an older brother and a younger sister. After his father died by suicide and his brother lost sight in one eye due to illness, members of the Unification Church visited his struggling mother, who soon joined the organisation.

She testified that she joined the church in August 1991 and, by March 1992, had donated 50 million yen (S$420,500) from her husband’s life insurance proceeds, as well as purchased items such as vases and paintings.

When asked by the defence why she made such large donations when her children were in school, she replied: “I thought donating was important.”

“I wanted to protect the life of the eldest brother,” she also said.

Without telling her children, she donated 100 million yen over seven years and later declared bankruptcy. Yamagami attempted suicide at age 24, reportedly hoping to leave his life insurance money to his siblings. His brother, also resentful of his mother’s large donations, took his own life in 2015.

The defence counsel has argued that Yamagami developed “a strong feeling of revenge against the religious group” as his mother’s large donations threw his family’s lives into turmoil.

Unable to attack church leaders, Yamagami turned his anger towards a politician he saw as sympathetic to the group, they said.

According to investigative sources, Yamagami claimed that he targeted Mr Abe because Mr Abe’s grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, who also served as prime minister, helped introduce the Unification Church to Japan. The church was formed in 1954 by a staunch anti-communist in South Korea.

Earlier during the trial on Nov 13, prosecutors read aloud a statement from Mr Abe’s widow Akie, who did not appear in court.

“At (my husband’s) first anniversary memorial service, I could not stop crying as I thought, ‘Why isn’t he here?‘ I still cannot overcome my grief. I wish he could have lived a long life,” she wrote.

Mr Abe, at age 67, was shot at close range with a handmade gun while delivering a campaign speech in support of a Liberal Democratic Party candidate in Nara, western Japan, on July 8, 2022, two days before the House of Councillors election. kyodo news