Nara: The wife of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the trial of Tetsuya Yamagami, who is charged with murdering Abe, for the first time on Wednesday. Akie Abe sat behind the prosecutors and listened to the 13th court hearing of the lay judge trial at Nara District Court, utilizing a system for victims' participation in trials. She did not ask questions herself.

According to Philippines News Agency, Akie entered the courtroom at 1 p.m. wearing a black jacket with a blue ribbon badge, symbolizing efforts to rescue Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea decades ago. When Yamagami, 45, took the witness stand for questioning at about 3 p.m., he bowed deeply to Akie, who bowed slightly in return.

During the hearing, prosecutors questioned Yamagami about why he shifted his target from leaders of the Unification Church, against whom he reportedly held a grudge, to the former prime minister. Yamagami stated that he believed his purpose in life was to retaliate against the religious group and that Abe was not his primary target. However, he added that he rushed to attack Abe because he might face financial distress if Unification Church leaders did not come to Japan soon.

Yamagami also mentioned that the time and energy he invested in making homemade guns would have been wasted if he did not use them. He is on trial for killing the former prime minister with a homemade gun in the western city of Nara in 2022.

The victim participation system allows victims and bereaved families in major incidents to participate in criminal trials. They can directly ask witnesses and defendants questions and express their opinions on the severity of sentences. During a court hearing last month, the prosecution read Akie's statement about her feelings a year after her husband's death, where she expressed that the sorrow of losing her husband will not be relieved and her desire for him to have stayed alive.