A vehicle transporting defendant Tetsuya Yamagami departs Osaka Detention Center to his initial court hearing, on October 28, 2025. Photo: VCG

Tetsuya Yamagami, the man accused of fatally shooting former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022, has pleaded guilty to the crime, Japanese media outlets reported on Tuesday.

Yamagami, appearing in court for the first time since the shocking assassination of the former prime minister, on Tuesday admitted to the charge of murder and to violating the firearms and swords control law when a judge at the Nara District Court asked him to enter a plea, per the report by The Japan Times.

"It is all true. There is no doubt about it," Yamagami said before the court, according to the report.
 
Yamagami, 45, is accused of murdering Abe, the country's longest-serving postwar prime minister, with a homemade firearm during an election stump speech in western Japan. The Nara District Court will hold a series of hearings before ruling on the case in January of 2026, Japanese outlet The Mainichi reported.

Yamagami has told investigators that he targeted the former prime minister over his ties to the South Korea-based Unification Church, whose followers are known as "Moonies." The group is known for mass weddings and aggressive donation-seeking tactics, according to another report by The Japan Times.

The defendant has said that he had long held a grudge against the controversial religious group; his mother's blind faith in the church and excessive donations to it left his family in abject poverty.

Global Times