Japan Lawmaker Sato Testifies at Abe Shooter Trial

Nara, Oct. 29 (Jiji Press)–Japanese lawmaker Kei Sato, who was at the scene of the shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the western Japan city of Nara in 2022, appeared in the trial of the suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, as a witness Wednesday, expressing his resentment and grief over the fatal attack. “At that time, I was there with mixed feelings of anger and sadness, while crying,” Sato, 46, a member of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, said during the second hearing of the trial at Nara District Court. Abe was shot by Yamagami, 45, with a homemade gun on July 8, 2022 while delivering a stump speech for Sato, who was running in the Upper House election that month, near a train station in Nara. Abe was confirmed dead later that day after he was rushed to hospital. “I heard a sound I’d never heard before, twice,” Sato, also deputy chief cabinet secretary, said, recalling how he bent down when he heard the first gunshot and ran to Abe, who fell onto the ground, after the second. He continued: “(Abe) was bleeding from around his neck. Although his eyes were open, I thought his condition was critical. To check if he was conscious, I said to him in a loud voice, ‘Prime minister, prime minister.'” At the time of the incident, around 300 to 500 people were at the site to hear Abe’s speech. “Many people tried together to save Abe’s life,” Sato recalled. At the hospital where Abe was taken and confirmed dead, Sato and Abe’s wife, Akie, saw the deceased. Sato said she was “completely worn out.” Abe’s visit to Nara was decided the day before the stump speech. Sato expressed regrets, saying: “Mr. Abe lost his life because of me. I’m filled with remorse, and I’m very sorry.” “Yamagami’s act of violence was to silence free speech and was an affront to democracy,” Sato said. “It’s absolutely unacceptable.” Yamagami, when listening to Sato’s testimony, closed his eyes occasionally but did not change his expression. Abe served as prime minister between September 2006 and September 2007, and between December 2012 and September 2020. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]