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Abe shooter planned to attack religious group leader

The suspect is believed to have harbored a grudge against the religious group for about 20 years since his mother went bankrupt after making big donations to the group. (AFP)
The suspect is believed to have harbored a grudge against the religious group for about 20 years since his mother went bankrupt after making big donations to the group. (AFP)
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13 Jul 2022 06:07:46 GMT9
13 Jul 2022 06:07:46 GMT9

NARA: Tetsuya Yamagami, accused of fatally shooting former Japanese Prime Minister ABE Shinzo, planned to attack a religious group leader with a firebomb two to three years ago, sources said Wednesday.

Yamagami, 41, has told investigators that he had a plan to attack the top leader of Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, when she visited Japan two to three years ago, according to the investigative sources.

The suspect is believed to have harbored a grudge against the religious group for about 20 years since his mother went bankrupt after making big donations to the group.

Yamagami previously told investigators that the large donations led his mother to bankruptcy and ruined the family and that he believed that Abe was linked to the organization.

The suspect apparently planned to attack the Unification Church leader when she visited Japan in 2019 to attend an event in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan.

Yamagami prepared a firebomb and went to the event but gave up the attempt to attack the leader after learning that only members of the group were allowed to enter the venue, he told investigators.

Yamagami also told the investigators that former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, Abe’s grandfather, is “the culprit who brought the Unification Church to Japan.”

The suspect made up his mind to kill Abe after watching a video message Abe sent to a group affiliated with the Unification Church last year. “I decided that I must kill him,” he was quoted as saying.

Yamagami gathered related information via the internet, according to investigative sources.

The Nara prefectural police think that Yamagami came to have murderous intent against Abe after long years of research into the religious group made him believe that Abe was linked to it.

At a press conference Monday, the Unification Church said that Abe had sent a message to an event hosted by an affiliated group but had never registered as a member of the Unification Church or become an adviser.

On Wednesday, the Nara police conducted a large on-site inspection at the site of the shooting in the city of Nara.

JIJI Press

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