NARA--The man accused of assassinating former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he knew that many politicians other than Abe were connected to the Unification Church, which the defendant has blamed for ruining his family.

He also said he initially plotted to attack several church executives, not Abe, over his mother’s heavy donations to the organization that bankrupted the family.

But in the end, he targeted Abe because he feared the power and influence of the former prime minister could lead to the legitimization of the church’s operations.

“Because he was a former prime minister who served for a long time, I felt anxious that the (church) would become more and more socially accepted, that it would come to be recognized as an organization with no problems,” Yamagami testified. “From the perspective of those who have suffered various damages (by the church), I felt it was a very frustrating and unacceptable situation.”

Yamagami’s explanation came in the 11th hearing of his murder trial on Nov. 25 at the Nara District Court.

Yamagami, 45, has admitted to fatally shooting Abe in July 2022, but his defense team is seeking leniency by showing how he was driven to violence by “religious abuse” from church activities.

ABE FAMILY TIES

In response to questions by the defense, Yamagami said he began connecting the Unification Church, now called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, to Abe in 2006.

At an event held in Fukuoka that year for an organization related to the church, a congratulatory telegram from Abe, who was then chief Cabinet secretary, was read aloud.

“From the time of the congratulatory telegram in 2006, I had always thought there was a connection,” Yamagami said.

He said the church even promoted its ties to Abe.

“Around that time, an executive at the Nara church said, ‘Mr. Abe knows our doctrine, he is our ally,’” Yamagami said.

The defendant also said his research on the Internet revealed the church’s relationship with Abe’s family, including his grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, and his father, Shintaro Abe, a former Liberal Democratic Party secretary-general.

Yamagami said he obtained information about damage caused by church activities from internet sites on cult issues and blogs written by former church members.

FEAR OF SOCIAL LEGITIMACY

Yamagami also touched on the fact that many politicians, including Diet members, had participated in church-related events.

“I knew there were many (such politicians) after the second Abe administration,” he said. “That was extremely bad.”

In 2021, Abe sent a video message to an event held by Universal Peace Federation (UPF), an organization related to the Unification Church.

When a defense lawyer asked Yamagami how he felt about Abe’s message, he answered, “Despair and a sense of crisis, I think.”

The lawyer asked, “And anger?”

Yamagami fell silent for a moment, then replied, “Not toward former Prime Minister Abe himself, but anger at the situation that had come about. …  Rather than anger, perhaps it was a feeling of being troubled.”

FAMILY STRAINS AND LOSS

During the trial, the defense team has emphasized that Yamagami’s life went downhill after his father killed himself and his mother donated heavily to the church.

Yamagami attempted suicide in 2005 on thoughts of leaving insurance money to his older brother and younger sister, left the Maritime Self-Defense Force where he was employed, and returned home.

To make a living, he obtained licenses as a real estate agent and a level-2 financial planner over the next few years.

While researching the deed of his old family home, he discovered that his mother had sold the house to provide more donations to the church.

Yamagami started living alone and became estranged from his family.

“A huge shock” came in 2015, when his brother, who had opposed their mother’s faith, committed suicide.

Yamagami said two people connected to the church appeared at the brother’s wake and suddenly began performing a church ritual in front of the coffin.

“Stop it, please leave,” Yamagami told them, but to no avail, he said.

“I could do nothing but watch in silence, but I thought, ‘How could they do such a thing?’” he said in court.

That same year, the Unification Church changed its official name to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.

Yamagami said it appeared they were declaring themselves “an organization with no problems.”

He said this series of events caused his negative memories to “flash back all at once.”

ABORTED PLOTS

Yamagami said he thought about attacking church executives even before his suicide attempt in 2005.

Around 2006, he learned that Hak Ja Han, the South Korean leader of the Unification Church and widow of its founder, Sun Myung Moon, was visiting Japan.

Although he had no concrete plan, he said he brought a knife and tear gas spray to a location near to where she was visiting. But he did not attack her.

Around 2018, he thought about attacking a large church event in Saitama Prefecture by placing a smoke bomb at the venue’s entrance and entering during the confusion.

But he gave up on the idea, thinking it was reckless due to the size of the venue.

In 2018, he learned that Han’s daughter was coming to an arena in Okayama Prefecture.

He explained in court that he waited near the venue with a knife and tear gas spray but was deterred after observing the security situation.

He recalled, “I thought, ‘What on earth am I doing?’ and felt pathetic.”

In 2019, when Han visited Nagoya, Yamagami stayed nearby from the previous day to scope the area. But it was a large venue, and he could not figure out the entrances and exits.

He waited at the front with several Molotov cocktails, but in the end, she did not appear. He threw the Molotov cocktails into the sea.

“Just holding it (the Molotov cocktail) made me nervous, so I felt relieved,” he said.

Yamagami said he began making a gun, believing the lethal weapon would allow him to keep his distance from the target and not cause harm to others around.

TURNING TO HOMEMADE GUNS

Prosecutors asked Yamagami about the extent of his preparations to build the seven pipe guns and gunpowder seized from his apartment.

He testified that he researched the manufacturing process on the internet and found videos from the United States and elsewhere of people making their own guns using iron pipes and water pipes.

He also said he had received training in disassembling and assembling guns when he was in the MSDF.

The defendant said he used a credit card to buy the materials for the guns from home improvement stores and online retailers, and that he started making pipe guns around 2021.

Yamagami added that he believed three guns would be needed to shoot a church executive: one for the attack and two to secure his escape.

To produce the gunpowder, Yamagami said, he studied foreign websites on medieval European guns that used only black powder and other sources.

He said he worked at night in a large, deserted parking lot to prevent casualties in case of an accidental explosion.

It took over 12 hours to mix the combined gunpowder ingredients with alcohol and knead them into balls, he said.

Drying took about a day in the summer and two to three days in the winter, he added.

TESTING AND PREPARATION

Once the guns and gunpowder were nearly complete, Yamagami began test-firing them in the mountains within Nara city. He said he searched for an open mountain area on Google Maps’ satellite imagery to avoid being seen.

He checked the spread of the shot by filming the test-firings through a smartphone hung around his neck or attached to a motorcycle helmet.

He said he also used a device to measure the velocity of the shot. He conducted test-firing sessions more than 10 times.

In response to a question from the defense, Yamagami said he had fired rifles during his time in the SDF, and that his marksmanship was good.

He made one shotgun with the intention of holding it with two hands to allow for a precise aim.

Yamagami said he had fired it with one hand, and recalled, “I couldn’t absorb the recoil, and it kicked up violently.”

In March 2022, he terminated the lease on the garage he had rented to make the gunpowder.

Around this time, he said he thought, “I’ve done about all I could.”

DECISION TO TARGET ABE

On June 30, 2022, eight days before the attack on Abe, Yamagami learned that there would be a church event in Saitama Prefecture and asked the organization about its contents.

“After that, did you decide to target Abe?” the prosecution asked.

Yamagami answered, “It was confirmed after that.”

He said he later learned that Abe would be giving a stump speech in Okayama Prefecture. But he backed away from that attack.

However, a better opportunity came around when Abe was giving a campaign speech outdoors on behalf of an election candidate in Nara on July 8.

Asked why he used a shotgun against Abe, Yamagami replied, “Because I could expect that much power from it.”

The questioning of Yamagami will continue at the next hearing scheduled for Dec. 2.

(This article was compiled from reports written by Ko Sendo, Minami Endo, Yikai Zhou, Shinichi Kawarada, among others.)