THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
August 9, 2022 at 14:13 JST
Tetsuya Yamagami leaves Nara-Nishi Police Station in Nara for a psychiatric examination on July 25. (Shiro Nishihata)
Tetsuya Yamagami had indicated his desire to kill people connected to the Unification Church in a Twitter account that was deactivated in 2019, investigative sources said.
Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was gunned down on July 8 while giving an election campaign speech in Nara, was not mentioned in tweets from the account.
Twitter Inc. said it deactivated the account in 2019 for “breaching (Twitter’s) policies on abusive language, threatening, or discriminatory language or behavior.”
The company deactivated another account run by Yamagami on July 19 after he was arrested on suspicion of murdering Abe.
According to investigative sources, Yamagami’s earlier account posted tweets showing his grudge against the Unification Church, formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.
Some tweets hinted that he would kill people involved in the organization, the sources said.
In October 2019, Yamagami set up a new Twitter account. That month, the leader of the Unification Church visited Japan to attend an event held in Aichi Prefecture.
Yamagami has reportedly told police that he “went to the event’s venue carrying a Molotov cocktail to attack the leader of the Unification Church.”
The Twitter account was mentioned in Yamagami’s letter posted on July 7 that was sent to a writer living in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture. The letter indicated his wish to kill Abe, according to the sources.
Nara prefectural police said Yamagami has said the Unification Church solicited significant donations from his mother, leading to the financial ruin of the family.
He apparently targeted Abe because of the veteran politician’s ties to the Unification Church.
In tweets posted in the second account, Yamagami wrote, “I only hate the Unification Church.”
He also tweeted: “Our family collapsed. The Unification Church’s inherent characteristic is to make families donate all their money, effectively robbing its members.”
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