Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has apparently been shot.
(Photo: via REUTERS)
Tokyo Japan’s former right-wing conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot in the street during an election campaign speech. As the Japanese television station NHK reported on Friday, the 67-year-old is said to be in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest.
He was taken to a hospital. He is said to have been conscious at first. TV footage showed Abe collapsed on the street in the ancient imperial city of Nara.
He was on the street during his speech in the House of Lords this Sunday. According to media reports, he was suddenly shot twice from behind.
The perpetrator was arrested at the scene by the police for attempted murder, it said. Abe grabbed his chest as he collapsed, his shirt was smeared with blood.
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Abe ruled Japan from December 2012 to September 2020, making him the country’s longest-serving prime minister. Under him, Japan had moved significantly to the right.
The right-wing conservative politician ruled Japan until September 2020.
(Photo: Reuters)
Abe is one of the staunch advocates of a revision of the pacifist post-war constitution. In Article 9 of the Constitution, Japan “forever renounces war as a sovereign right of the nation, and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes.”
Elections to the House of Lords will take place in Japan on Sunday. The LDP is expected to win a landslide victory. This could gain momentum in the debate about changing the constitution. The island kingdom of Japan has some of the strictest gun laws in the world and is considered one of the safest countries in the world.
The US ambassador to Japan was shocked by the attack on Abe. “We are all sad and shocked” that the former Prime Minister was shot, wrote US Ambassador Rahm Emanuel in a statement. “Abe-san” was a “outstanding leader of Japan and a staunch ally of the United States”. “The US government and people are praying for the well-being of Abe-san, his family and the people of Japan,” Emanuel wrote.
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