Prosecutors have until Nov. 29 to decide whether Tetsuya Yamagami will be formally charged with murder.
will be detained until late November for mental evaluation so prosecutors can determine whether to formally press charges and send him to trial for murder, officials said Monday.
The suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, was arrested immediately after he allegedly shot Abe from behind when the former leader was making a campaign speech outside a busy train station in western Japan on July 8.The Nara District Court said it had granted permission for district prosecutors to detain the suspect for psychiatric examination until Nov. 29, when they must decide whether to file formal charges. His current detention was to expire later this month.
Yamagami, 41, has told police that he killed Abe because of his links to a religious group that he hated. His reported statements and other evidence suggest he was distressed because his mother’s massive donations to the Unification Church had bankrupted the family.