Nara: The man accused of shooting former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to death pleaded guilty to murder during his first trial on Tuesday, three years after the assassination of Japan’s longest serving leader shocked the nation. Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, was arrested at the scene in July 2022 after he was accused of shooting Abe dead with a homemade weapon while the former prime minister was giving an election campaign speech in the western city of Nara.

According to Thai News Agency, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK reported that Yamagami appeared calm, wearing a black sweater and gray trousers, with his long hair tied back. He told the court that it was true that he had committed the crime. Yamagami’s lawyers asked for a mitigating sentence, arguing that the gun used in the attack was a homemade weapon that does not fall under the classification of a handgun under Japan’s Firearms and Swords Control Act.

The high-profile trial began on the same day as a summit between two of Abe’s former allies, current Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and President Donald Trump, who are visiting Tokyo. Abe is the first foreign leader to meet Trump since his 2016 presidential election victory, and the two have built a close relationship through numerous golf outings in the US and Japan.

Japanese media reported that Yamagami blamed Abe for fostering the Unification Church, a religious group he held a grudge against, after his mother donated about 100 million yen (about $660,000) to the group. The Unification Church, founded in South Korea in 1954, is known for hosting mass weddings and counts its Japanese followers as a major source of income. Following the assassination, it was revealed that more than 100 lawmakers from Prime Minister Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) had ties to the group, significantly eroding public support for the ruling party now led by Takaichi.