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8 July 2022

The assassination of Abe Shinzo

Japan’s former prime minister will be remembered as its most consequential modern leader.

By Katie Stallard

The gunman approached Abe Shinzo from behind. As the former Japanese prime minister delivered a campaign speech for a local parliamentary candidate in the western city of Nara on 8 July, the man raised what appeared to be a home-made gun and fired twice. Abe collapsed to the ground, blood seeping through his white shirt. He was airlifted to hospital, but doctors were unable to save his life.

The suspect is 41-year-old Yamagami Tetsuya, an unemployed Nara resident who briefly served in Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Force, the country’s de facto navy. Yamagami reportedly told police that he shot Abe because he believed he was linked to the Unification Church, the religious movement whose members are colloquially known as Moonies. (The head of the organisation’s Japanese branch denied that Abe had formal links to the church.)

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