Shinzo Abe: Man charged with murder after assassination of former Japanese PM

Japanese prosecutors have formally charged the suspect in the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with murder.

Tetsuya Yamagami was arrested immediately after allegedly shooting Mr Abe with a homemade gun as the former leader was making a campaign speech in July outside a train station in Nara in western Japan.

Later that month, Yamagami was sent to an Osaka detention centre for a nearly six-month mental evaluation, which ended on Tuesday. He is now back in police custody in Nara.

Prosecutors said results of his mental evaluation showed he is fit to stand trial. Yamagami was also charged with violating a gun control law, according to the Nara District Court.

Police have said Yamagami told them that he killed Mr Abe, one of Japan’s most influential and divisive politicians, because of the former prime minister's apparent links to a religious group that he hated.

In his statements and in social media postings attributed to him, Yamagami said he developed a grudge because his mother had made huge donations to the Unification Church that bankrupted his family and ruined his life.

One of his lawyers, Masaaki Furukawa, said his trial is a serious case, and due to its complexity would take at least several months before the trial begins.

The investigation into the case has led to revelations of years of close ties between Mr Abe’s governing Liberal Democratic Party and the church since his grandfather, former prime minister Nobusuke Kishi, helped the church take root in Japan in the 1960s.

Current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s popularity has plunged over his handling of the church controversy and for insisting on holding a rare, controversial state funeral for Mr Abe.

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