Tetsuya Yamagami is currently accused of killing the former president. Identify the appropriate authorities.
(Photo: via REUTERS)
Tokyo According to a media report, the assassin of the former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had initially planned a bomb attack. As the Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday, citing investigative circles, the 41-year-old former marine tried to build a bomb himself.
Tetsuya Yamagami shot and killed Abe with a homemade gun while delivering a campaign speech in the city of Nara on Friday. According to media reports, he said after his arrest that he acted out of hatred for a religious group that supported Abe.
>> Read here: Japan’s ex-prime minister Abe dies after being assassinated
His mother donated large sums of money to the religious organization, which ruined it. Neither the police nor Japan’s state-run media have so far wanted to name the group. However, the online magazine “Gendai Business” claims to have learned from investigative circles that this is the controversial Unification Church of the late Korean sect founder San Myung Mun.
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Also known as the Mun Sect, the Unification Church has members in many countries, including Japan, and supports conservative political causes. Politicians like former US President Donald Trump and Abe are considered friendly towards her.
Politicians around the world dismayed by Shinzo Abe’s violent death
Mun, who was strongly anti-Communist, founded it in 1954. Thanks to a devoted following, he built a corporate empire that made him a billionaire. He was known for grand performances, which included mass weddings. There had previously been speculation on Japan’s social media that the Abe assassin could have meant this group. There is no confirmation for this.
>> Read here: Ex-Prime Minister Abe’s Assassination Attempt – Here’s How His Death Could Affect Japan
According to the media, the confessed assassin denied that he acted out of resentment over Abe’s political beliefs. Originally he wasn’t even aiming for the right-wing conservative politician, but for a leader of the religious group.
Police found explosives and homemade firearms in his apartment. The man testified that he was able to fire six bullets at once with the murder weapon, as the newspaper “Yomiuri Shimbun” reported on Sunday, citing investigative circles.
Japan’s citizens vote for the new upper house, the election continues to be overshadowed by the assassination of the former president shortly before.
(Photo: IMAGO/AFLO)
Overshadowed by the assassination attempt, the upper house elections have been running in Japan since morning. There is a higher turnout in the elections. By the morning (11 a.m. local time, 4 a.m. CEST), 10.44 percent of those eligible to vote had already cast their votes, the Ministry of the Interior announced on Sunday.
>> Read here: Assassination attempt on Shinzo Abe – The architect of the new Japan is dead. An obituary.
In the most recent election for the House of Lords in 2019, the turnout at that time was 9.7 percent. According to media reports, around 15 percent of voters have already voted by post. The polling stations are open until 8:00 p.m. (local time, 1:00 p.m. CEST). The first forecasts are then expected.
Even before Abe was shot, observers were expecting a victory for the governing coalition led by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), party friend and Abe’s protégé.
The elections to the less influential upper house, which take place every three years, are seen as a mood barometer for the government. According to polls, the LDP can hope for 60 of the 125 seats up for election. It currently has 55. In total, the second chamber of the Japanese parliament has 248 seats. About half are reassigned every three years.
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