The mom of the person who fatally shot former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe donated about 100 million yen ($720,000) to the Unification Church, the person’s uncle stated Friday.

The assailant, Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, has advised investigators he believes Abe was linked to the church and he resents it as a result of his household’s funds had been ruined because of the donations made by his mom.

The donations included a payout of about 60 million yen in reference to the demise of Yamagami’s father, the uncle advised reporters in Osaka Prefecture. Proceeds from the sale of the household’s land and home had been additionally donated by the mom to the Household Federation for World Peace and Unification, broadly often called the Unification Church.

She continued donating smaller quantities even after she grew to become bankrupt in 2002, the 77-year-old uncle stated.

“I imagine she was an important follower of the church. She was below thoughts management,” he stated.

Yamagami’s mom joined the church round 1991 following his father’s suicide in 1984, in accordance with the uncle.

Picture reveals folks mourning the demise of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe close to the scene of his assassination in Nara, western Japan, on July 15, 2022. (Kyodo)

The church has claimed it returned 50 million yen to her, whereas including there have been no data of the quantities of the donations she made to the group.

The uncle criticized the church’s response and accused it of making an attempt to evade accountability.

Yamagami’s household was thrown into poverty due to the church, the uncle stated, including the suspect had to surrender on going to school because of a scarcity of cash.

“He was extraordinarily good identical to his father,” the uncle stated of Yamagami. “He was additionally hardworking and I solely have good reminiscences of him.”

Yamagami tried suicide in 2005 when he was a Maritime Self-Protection Pressure member as he needed his brother and sister to profit from a life insurance coverage payout, in accordance with the uncle.

He stated Yamagami’s mom is staying at his dwelling and resting because of excessive fatigue, including he isn’t certain if she continues to be in contact with the church and that she is cooperating with the investigation.

The Unification Church, based in South Korea in 1954 by Solar Myung Moon and identified for its group weddings, has a controversial fame in Japan, the place it claims to have about 600,000 followers.

A sequence of complaints had been reported previously, claiming the church compelled folks to purchase costly pots and seals. It additionally encourages believers to donate 10 % of their earnings, in accordance with the web site of its Japan arm.

“(Former Prime Minister) Nobusuke Kishi invited the church (to Japan from South Korea). So I killed (his grandson) Abe,” Yamagami has stated, in accordance with investigative sources.

Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, was shot on July eight whereas delivering a speech on a road within the western metropolis of Nara. Yamagami was arrested on the scene the place police discovered a selfmade gun.

Yamagami was despatched to prosecutors Sunday on suspicion of homicide.

Associated protection:

Unification Church says Abe shooter’s mom is follower

Suspect had hostility in opposition to late ex-Japan PM Abe’s grandfather

Abe shooter’s plan to focus on spiritual head thwarted by COVID limits