TOKYO: A man was taken to hospital unconscious after apparently setting himself on fire near the office of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday, local media said.
Initial details about the incident in Tokyo were slim, and the police and prime minister’s office declined to comment.
TV Asahi said the man set himself alight after telling police he was opposed to plans for a state funeral for assassinated former prime minister Shinzo Abe.
The television station said a police officer who tried to extinguish the fire was injured in the process.
Kyodo news agency and other outlets said police were called to the scene after reports a man was “engulfed in flames.”
It said a note was found near the man, expressing his opposition to the funeral.
Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, was shot dead on July 8 while campaigning, and a publicly funded state funeral honoring him will be held on September 27.
But state funerals are rare in Japan, and the decision has been controversial, with polls showing about half the public is opposed to the idea.
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Man sets himself on fire near Japan prime minister’s office
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Man sets himself on fire near Japan prime minister’s office
- Man immolates himself in protest of plans for a state funeral former leader Shinzo Abe
Japanese court set to sentence man who admitted killing former leader Abe
- Shinzo Abe was serving as a regular lawmaker after leaving the prime minister’s job when he was killed in 2022
TOKYO: A Japanese court on Wednesday will sentence a man who’s admitted assassinating former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a case that revealed decades of cozy ties between Japan’s governing party and a controversial South Korean church.
Abe, one of Japan’s most influential politicians, was serving as a regular lawmaker after leaving the prime minister’s job when he was killed in 2022 while campaigning in the western city of Nara. It shocked a nation with strict gun control.
Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, pleaded guilty to murder in the trial that started in October, and Wednesday’s ruling will determine how long he’ll spend in prison.
Shooter said he was motivated by hatred of a controversial church
Yamagami said he killed Abe after seeing a video message the former leader sent to a group affiliated with the Unification Church. He added that his goal was to hurt the church, which he hated, and expose its ties with Abe.
Prosecutors have demanded life imprisonment for Yamagami, while his lawyers have sought a sentence of no more than 20 years, speaking of his troubles as the child of a church adherent.
The revelation of close ties between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the church caused the party to pull back from the church. It also prompted investigations that ended with the church’s Japanese branch being stripped of its tax-exempt religious status and ordered dissolved.
The killing has also led to officials working to increase police protection of dignitaries.
Shooting at a crowded election campaign venue
Abe was shot on July 8, 2022, while giving a speech outside a train station in Nara. In footage captured by television cameras, two gunshots ring out as the politician raises his fist. He collapses holding his chest, his shirt smeared with blood. Officials say Abe died almost instantly.
Yamagami was captured on the spot. He said he initially planned to kill the leader of the Unification Church, but switched targets to Abe because of the difficulty of getting close to the leader.
Yamagami won sympathy from people skeptical of church
Yamagami’s case has also brought attention to the children of Unification Church adherents in Japan, and influenced a law meant to restrict malicious donation solicitations by religious and other groups.
Thousands of people have signed a petition requesting leniency for Yamagami, and others have sent care packages to his relatives and the detention center where he’s being housed.
Abe, one of Japan’s most influential politicians, was serving as a regular lawmaker after leaving the prime minister’s job when he was killed in 2022 while campaigning in the western city of Nara. It shocked a nation with strict gun control.
Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, pleaded guilty to murder in the trial that started in October, and Wednesday’s ruling will determine how long he’ll spend in prison.
Shooter said he was motivated by hatred of a controversial church
Yamagami said he killed Abe after seeing a video message the former leader sent to a group affiliated with the Unification Church. He added that his goal was to hurt the church, which he hated, and expose its ties with Abe.
Prosecutors have demanded life imprisonment for Yamagami, while his lawyers have sought a sentence of no more than 20 years, speaking of his troubles as the child of a church adherent.
The revelation of close ties between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the church caused the party to pull back from the church. It also prompted investigations that ended with the church’s Japanese branch being stripped of its tax-exempt religious status and ordered dissolved.
The killing has also led to officials working to increase police protection of dignitaries.
Shooting at a crowded election campaign venue
Abe was shot on July 8, 2022, while giving a speech outside a train station in Nara. In footage captured by television cameras, two gunshots ring out as the politician raises his fist. He collapses holding his chest, his shirt smeared with blood. Officials say Abe died almost instantly.
Yamagami was captured on the spot. He said he initially planned to kill the leader of the Unification Church, but switched targets to Abe because of the difficulty of getting close to the leader.
Yamagami won sympathy from people skeptical of church
Yamagami’s case has also brought attention to the children of Unification Church adherents in Japan, and influenced a law meant to restrict malicious donation solicitations by religious and other groups.
Thousands of people have signed a petition requesting leniency for Yamagami, and others have sent care packages to his relatives and the detention center where he’s being housed.
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