A vehicle carrying Tetsuya Yamagami, the defendant accused of fatally shooting Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, enters the Nara District Court for his sentencing hearing in Nara, western Japan, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (Photo: AP)

TOKYO, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- A court in western Japan on Wednesday sentenced a man to life in prison for fatally shooting former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022.

Prosecutors had demanded a life sentence for Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, calling the act of killing the former state leader by a handmade firearm at an outdoor political event "an unprecedented crime in the country's postwar history."

Abe was shot and killed on July 8, 2022, while delivering a campaign speech on a street in the western Japanese city of Nara in support of a ruling Liberal Democratic Party candidate in the House of Councillors election. Yamagami was arrested at the scene.

Yamagami admitted to murdering Abe during his trial at the Nara District Court, saying that he committed the crime due to a grudge he held against the Unification Church because his family suffered financial ruin due to his mother's large donations to the religious group, which he believed had close ties to Abe and other Japanese politicians.

Yamagami's defense had called for a prison term of no more than 20 years, arguing that he was a victim of a religious group's harm and that his "tragic" upbringing motivated him to kill Abe.

Following Yamagami's arrest, a government probe into the Unification Church was launched over its solicitation of ruinous donations from members, leading to the Tokyo District Court's order for the church to be dissolved and stripped of its tax benefits as a religious corporation.

Scrutiny over the church's links with Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers also grew, with some reportedly having received support during election campaigns, local media said.