The mother of Tetsuya Yamagami, the man indicted over the 2022 killing of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with a homemade gun in Nara, will testify in court as a defense witness, it was learned Wednesday.
In the final pretrial arrangement proceeding held the same day, the Nara District Court decided to have five witnesses testify for Yamagami, 45, and seven others for the prosecution as requested by the two sides, respectively.
The first day of trial is set to begin Tuesday, and the court is scheduled to issue a ruling on Jan. 21 next year.
During the trial, Yamagami's defense lawyers intend to seek a lighter sentence while refraining from claiming he is not guilty of murder, as they believe that sufferings brought upon his family by the Unification Church triggered the crime, people familiar with the matter said.
Defense witnesses include his mother, who was declared bankrupt after donating a total of around ¥100 million ($658,540) to the religious organization, his younger sister and a religion scholar well versed in the issue of massive donations to cults and their spiritual sales.
Prosecutors had opposed seeking testimony from a religious scholar, calling it wrong to justify the attack by blaming religious activities.
An Upper House lawmaker who was at the scene of the shooting and a police officer who examined Yamagami's gun are among the prosecution witnesses.
Yamagami is accused of killing Abe by shooting him with a homemade gun twice during a stump speech by the former prime minister in Nara in July 2022. Pretrial proceedings, which started in October 2023, were prolonged by wranglings between the prosecution and defense over whether to examine the Unification Church's influence on the incident.
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