NARA - Abe Akie appeared at the Nara District Court on December 3rd for the lay judge trial of the shooting that killed former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, marking the first time she has attended proceedings in person. Akie arrived in the courtroom shortly after 1 p.m. wearing a navy jacket and bowed toward the gallery as she entered, while the court continued a scheduled witness examination of Sakurai Yoshihide, a religious scholar and specially appointed professor at Hokkaido University.
By 2 p.m., Akie had not spoken in court, and Yamagami, the defendant, kept his gaze lowered and did not look in her direction as he listened to the session. Although Akie has taken part under the crime victim participation制度, this was her first physical appearance in the courtroom.
At the November 13th session, prosecutors read a written statement from Akie describing the day of the incident, saying it had been an ordinary morning and that she had seen her husband off as usual, adding that the shock was so great she could not fully comprehend what had happened. The statement read that Abe appeared calm and faintly smiling, and that she called out “Shin-chan, Shin-chan” while feeling as if he briefly squeezed her hand in return. She said her husband had been irreplaceable and that the sorrow of losing him would never lift, adding that she had simply wished for him to live a long life.
During testimony that same day, Yamagami’s mother offered an emotional apology, saying in a trembling voice that she regretted the serious crime committed by her son and wished to apologize to Akie as well.
In his defendant questioning on December 2nd, Yamagami explained why he targeted Abe, saying he viewed the former prime minister as central to the relationship between the former Unification Church and politics, and believed that targeting another politician would have been less meaningful. However, to date, Yamagami himself has not expressed any personal feelings or apology toward Abe or Akie.
The December 3rd session is scheduled to continue until around 5 p.m., with further questioning of the defendant planned. Attention is now focused on whether Akie will directly question Yamagami during the proceedings and on what Yamagami may say in response.
Source: YOMIURI
