Jul 11 (straitstimes.com) - The Unification Church in Japan on Monday (July 11) said the mother of the gunman who last week assassinated former prime minister Shinzo Abe was a member of the church.
The gunman, Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, told police after the assassination that he had targeted Mr Abe in his belief that the former PM was linked to a "religious group" that his mother had joined. Yamagami claimed that his mother paid the group exorbitant dues that left his family bankrupt and broken.
In a news conference on Monday, Reverend Tomihiro Tanaka - who leads the Japan branch of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, known as the Unification Church - said Yamagami's mother joined the church around the late 1990s.
She was still attending events about once every month and her last attendance was two months ago, he said.
The church said neither Mr Abe nor Yamagami was a member of the church. Mr Abe was also not an adviser to the church, the reverend added.
The church said Mr Abe had, among other things, offered video messages to an affiliated organisation. It also acknowledged links with Mr Abe's grandfather, the late prime minister Nobusuke Kishi.
