Japan ex-PM Shinzo Abe dies after assassination

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe died in hospital after an attempt on his life on the morning of July 8. An armed man shot him twice in the back with a homemade shotgun, reports the Japanese TV channel NHK.

The former head of government died at a Nara Medical University Hospital in Kashihara City, where he was receiving treatment. He was delivered to the hospital with cardiopulmonary arrest.

The 67-year-old ex-prime minister, who was a longtime leader of the ruling Japanese Liberal Democratic Party, was visiting the city of Naraon July 8 to support the LDP candidate in Sunday's upper house election. A crowd was listening to his speech at Yamato-Saidaiji Station in Nara City when the incident happened.

The attacker Tetsuya Yamagami, a 41-year-old resident of the city of Nara, was detained at the scene. "I was dissatisfied with former Prime Minister Abe and aimed to kill him," said the suspect to the police, "It is not a grudge against the former Prime Minister's political beliefs." The confiscated gun appears to be a handmade gun, and according to Ministry of Defense officials, the suspect had been in the Maritime Self-Defense Force for three years until 2005.

Shinzo Abe became Japan's longest-serving leader. He served as head of government from 2006 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2020. He resigned due to an exacerbation of the chronic gastrointestinal disorder. Shinzo Abe has made efforts to strengthen the Japan-US security alliance and raise Japan's profile abroad. As a leader, Abe sought to revive Japan's economy by pushing his policy package, which included bold monetary easing by the Bank of Japan, generous fiscal spending, and deregulation.