crime

Trial of Abe shooter to face issue of sympathy for church 'victim'

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He will be hung, and the discussion will end. That is the Japanese way.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Lock that pathetic guy for life, otherwise more will follow. Before you know it, the children of pachinko addicts will start killing pachinko affiliates and the media will make us feel sympathy for those poor children who grew up with parents who willingly gave their monthly salaries away to these bad people.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

What he did was wrong. I understand all the hardship he had. I would give him 18 years in imprisonment.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Alan HarrisonJan. 26  10:30 pm JST

As a Christian, I do not regard the Unification church as a Church.

It's not your judgement to determine what is a church, temple or any place of worship

4 ( +5 / -1 )

My bets on life.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

He needs to be punished with imprisonment and allowed out if and when rehabilitated. He was driven insane by the wicked deeds of this phone church the preys on people like his mother.

The church needs to be sorted out as do those who profited by scamming people and ruining countless lives.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Trial of Abe shooter to face issue of sympathy for church 'victim'

As a Christian, I do not regard the Unification church as a Church. To me, and many informed Christians it is a cult. This man, in my opinion, is the victim of a cult. (False Prophet).

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Mr. Yamagami needs to choke on a rope.

He is no innocent figure and would likely take this kind of action against other people if he is allowed to remain alive. The same people talking today would be very quiet if this premeditated murderer was let out at an old age and committed the same kind of crime against someone else.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

@Mark Good post!

Mr. Yamagami was wrong in assassinating Mr. Abe, but after what we have learned about his mother, his family, and his own suffering at the hands of the Cult it becomes harder and harder to prosecute this case without addressing his grievances and many others like him at the hands of the so called the UC.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

I dislike the crime but I feel a degree of sympathy for the alleged murderer. His family was reported as destroyed by the quasi-forced donations to the Moonie church. I believe this person who committed this horrible crime was driven into state insanity. He was an industrious killer but his labors were based on madness.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Not an advocate for Abe or the Unification Church.

But, you can’t go and assassinate someone that is no physical threat to you and you’re really just bitter about your parent’s poor decisions. This guy is not a victim.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

I have zero sympathy for the killer - the carefully planned public execution of any human-being deserves the maximum penalty available to the court, which will probably be a full-life tariff. If he can kill someone so cold-bloodedly in this way, who's to say that he'll kill someone else if he's ever released. It matters not a jot that the victim was an ex-Prime Minister.

The court will certainly listen to the mitigating factors of the parasitic nature of the Unification Church and the devastating effect it had on the killers' family, however the paramount overriding factors are that this man is far too dangerous ever to be allowed to walk the streets again.

Lock him up, throw away the key, and I'm pretty sure he won't be missed.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

No sympathy from me for this criminal who took the life of a Japanese prominent figure.

2 ( +7 / -5 )

10 years should be enough. This guy has already suffered enough.

Just 10 years for premeditated, cold-blooded murder with a firear? You're kidding yourself.

I wonder if 10 years would be "enough" if it was your family member murdered?

3 ( +10 / -7 )

Crickey...

Leaders around the world also expressed shock and outrage, That must be why so many turned up for the memorial service?

You may want to check who actually turned up.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

It is the media sensationalist reporting of criminal and legal proceedings, prosecutors briefing the press, thus procure the commission of a trail within the media, that has and quote preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Lots of sympathy for the guy, but murder is a crime that is punished.

10 ( +11 / -1 )

Well, the objective thing is that there's more in this case justifying a higher than a lower sentence. The murder was conducted in a "generally dangerous" way (shooting in closed space w/ a makeshift gun), and for anti-religious hatred (extremism), and Abe is conducting political activities at the time and is a VIP to boot which helps increase the sentence.

-6 ( +4 / -10 )

He might be a murderer, certainly not a threat to society. Death penalty would be a political lust for retribution. Not a matter of justice, but it’s Japan!

He certainly is a threat to society. He has shown his willingness to kill those associated with the church. Has he shown remorse? Abe wasn't even a member, just someone who dealt with the church. Who knows who he could kill next? He should get life in prison or 25 years.

-8 ( +6 / -14 )

The outcome will be the one that preserves the rotten status quo as much as possible. There are too many people in positions of power benefitting from it and very sparse opposition. Who will cause a fuss even if there is a serious miscarriage of justice?

-7 ( +9 / -16 )

For many cult victims and others, Yamagami is a hero. A dark one but never the less a hero

This cult should never have been allowed to set root in Japan in the first place

11 ( +17 / -6 )

At first I was thinking this guy would be the first, by my recollection, with a chance at getting the death penalty, as Japanese courts typically do not hand down that sentence for murdering one person.

But after all the crap that is coming out following the incident, my money is on him getting a hell of a lighter sentence.

1 ( +8 / -7 )

He deserves a lot leniency.

If it weren't for him we wouldn't even know about the connection between the LDP and and UC.

The appalling Japanese media wouldn't have uncovered it and if on the off chance they did they wouldn't have reported it.

By then Abe had managed to get the message across that anything critical of his party, the LDP, was also critical of Japan as a nation.

6 ( +19 / -13 )

Mr. Yamagami was wrong in assassinating Mr. Abe, but after what we have learned about his mother, his family, and his own suffering at the hands of the Cult it becomes harder and harder to prosecute this case without addressing his grievances and many others like him at the hands of the so called the UC.

3 ( +17 / -14 )

Japan's longest-serving prime minister, ok by 1 day, then the next day he after breaking the “record” he left office.

 I assume Yamagami's personal circumstances will not much influence the court's decision on the degree of punishment,"  WHAT! doesn’t justice take into account circumstance, oh! it’s Japanese justice so the government gets a say.

Leaders around the world also expressed shock and outrage, That must be why so many turned up for the memorial service?

He might be a murderer, certainly not a threat to society. Death penalty would be a political lust for retribution. Not a matter of justice, but it’s Japan!

-10 ( +11 / -21 )

So, the assassin that was facing economical issues, can afford a lawyer good enough to to get him a reduced sentence for killing the most important man in Japan? As an ex-military, he is trained to withstand some time in detention. (Not suggesting that this is a payed assassination, but it does seem suspicious.)

-22 ( +1 / -23 )

10 years should be enough. This guy has already suffered enough.

3 ( +19 / -16 )

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