The Government of Japan admitted “security failures, both in the actions of agents on the ground and at the level of the National Police Agency”, behind the murder of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
“We recognize that there were failures to ensure security, both in the actions of officers on the ground and at the level of the National Police Agency,” said the secretary general of the cabinet, Hirokazu Matsuno.
Meanwhile, in the last hours it was known that the mother of the suspect in the crime, Yamagami Tetsuya, is a member of the Unification Churchconfirmed the organization, known as the “Moon Sect.”
In turn, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken praised Abe, a “man with a vision of the future”, on Monday in statements made in Tokyo, where he traveled to express condolences for the murder of the prominent politician.
Blinken handed Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida a letter from United States President Joe Biden, addressed to Abe’s family, who held a wake Monday at a major Buddhist temple in Tokyo.
This Tuesday, the family will celebrate a private ceremony in the same temple and public funerals will take place at a later date.
security flaws
Regarding security flaws, Nara Prefectural Police Chief Tomoaki Onizuka also admitted on Saturday that “there were undeniably problems with former Prime Minister Abe’s surveillance and security measures” and spoke out for carrying out a exhaustive investigation to clarify what happened.
Abe, 67, suffered fatal gunshot wounds last Friday while attending an election rally in the city of Nara, capital of the Nara prefecture in western Japan.
The assassinated politician was president of the Liberal Democratic Party and prime minister of Japan from 2006 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2020.
The suspect in the crime – who confessed his responsibility – acted alone, with a homemade weapon, and was identified as Yamagami Tetsuya, an unemployed 41-year-old former member of the Maritime Self-Defense Forces.
After his arrest, Tetsuya confessed that he had been planning the attack against Abe for months, due to his alleged links to a religious group that he blamed for his mother’s financial ruin.a member of the Unification Church, confirmed this organization, known as the “Moon Sect,” on Monday.
Local media said that Yamagami’s family had suffered financial problems as a result of his mother’s donations to the group.
Yamagami wanted revenge on an “organization”, it transpired on Friday, before the name of the entity was known.
The suspect thought that the former prime minister had a link to this group.
“She has been attending our events once a month,” said Tomihiro Tanaka, president of the Unification Church in Japan, at a brief news conference called at short notice, declining to comment on the mother’s donations. of the suspect.
Tanaka said he was horrified by the “savage” murder and indicated that he will cooperate with the investigations.
It is speculated that Yamagami spent three years in the Japanese navy and watched YouTube videos to learn how to make homemade weapons. like the one used in the attack, sources close to the investigation told local media.