Tokyo, 11 January, /AJMEDIA/
The psychiatric evaluation of a man accused of fatally shooting former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ended Tuesday, with prosecutors expected to indict him for murder and firearms control law violations before his detention period ends Friday.
After being arrested for the July 8 shooting in the western city of Nara, Tetsuya Yamagami had been under evaluation since July 25 to determine whether he was mentally fit to be held criminally responsible for his actions, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The Nara District Public Prosecutors Office previously requested the suspect’s evaluation period be extended twice. The Nara District Court allowed it to continue until Jan. 10 after his defense filed an appeal on both occasions.
On Tuesday, Yamagami was moved from the Osaka Detention House to a police station in Nara near where the former prime minister was attacked.
Abe, 67, was shot at close range by the 42-year-old during a campaign speech outside the Yamato-Saidaiji train station two days ahead of a national election.
Yamagami told investigators that he held a grudge against the Unification Church, a religious group known for its mass weddings and aggressive donation solicitations, after his mother’s large financial donations caused his family to fall apart. He targeted Abe in the belief the former prime minister had links to the group, investigative sources have said.
The organization was established in Japan in 1968 with the support of former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, Abe’s grandfather.
Local police confiscated multiple homemade guns and gunpowder from Yamagami’s home in Nara, and he is also under investigation for damaging a building after test-firing a weapon at a facility connected to the Unification Church, a day before the fatal shooting.
