Nara ¨C A man standing trial for the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022 said he was motivated by ¡°despair and a sense of crisis¡± over a video message Abe sent the year before to a controversial religious group.
Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, underwent a second day of questioning at the Nara District Court on Tuesday, detailing a series of events that turned him against the South Korea-based Unification Church, and eventually against the politician he judged was a friend to the group.
In a lay-judge trial that started in late October, Yamagami has recounted his troubled upbringing and the hardships caused by his mother¡¯s longtime devotion to the church, which involved bankrupting the family through excessive donations.
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