“The suspect indicated that he held a grudge against a particular organization and committed the crime because he believed former Prime Minister Abe had a connection to it,” a senior police official said on Friday.
The suspect is a 41-year-old Japanese man who was arrested at the scene. According to media reports, the man twice shot the former head of government, who was delivering a campaign speech in front of a train station, with a self-made weapon. The right-wing conservative politician then collapsed. According to doctors at Nara University Hospital, Abe bled to death from deep wounds to his neck and heart. Over the course of four hours, more than 100 blood supplies were administered, said emergency doctor Hidetada Fukushima.
The two shots can be heard on video recordings by reporters. Dramatic scenes took place at the crime scene. Aides performed initial cardiac massages on Abe, who was lying on the street, before being taken to a hospital. The politician would have been conscious on the way to the hospital. The killer is said to be a former member of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. He was “dissatisfied” with Abe and wanted to “kill him”, the man told NHK TV after his arrest. According to other reports, he said he “had no grudge against Abe’s political beliefs”.
Abe ruled Japan from December 2012 to September 2020, becoming the country’s longest-serving prime minister. According to critics, Japan has clearly moved right below him. The 67-year-old was one of the staunch supporters of an overhaul of the country’s post-war pacifist constitution. In Article 9 of the Constitution, Japan “forever renounces war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes”.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned the attack in the strongest possible terms. The attack on Abe during Sunday’s campaign for the upper house election was an unacceptable attack on the very foundations of Japanese democracy, Kishida said. He is not aware of any motive for the “absolutely unforgivable” attack, the politician visibly emotional in front of journalists.
The attack in one of the safest countries in the world, which has extremely strict gun laws, didn’t just shock the people of Japan. “Violence against political activity is absolutely unacceptable,” said a representative of the Japanese Communist Party, for whom Abe’s nationalist policies have always been a red rag.
Politicians around the world reacted with shock. “All over the world we mourn with the Japanese people for @AbeShinzo. It is a sad day for the people of Japan. For all the people who uphold the values of our democracy,” tweeted Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen on Friday. . Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (both ÖVP) were also shocked and expressed their condolences on Twitter. Former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP) also made statements.
US President Joe Biden said he was “stunned, outraged and deeply saddened by the news that my friend Abe Shinzo was gunned down during the campaign. This is a tragedy for Japan and everyone who knew him,” he said. a statement on Friday. US flags are flown at half-mast.
Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the murder in a letter of condolences to the family of the politician who was killed. “The hand of a criminal ended the life of a prominent statesman,” Putin wrote in a cable released by the Kremlin on Friday.
British Queen Elizabeth II expressed her condolences. “I would like to extend my deepest condolences and condolences to his family and the people of Japan at this difficult time,” the 96-year-old monarch wrote in a condolence letter to Emperor Naruhito on Friday.
At the start of a UN Security Council session, representatives from the 15 member countries stood up and celebrated Abe’s assassination. UN Secretary-General António Guterres had previously expressed himself as “deeply saddened” and described the attack as “terrifying”.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described himself in a statement as “shocked”. The European Union is losing a friend who helped “deepen and strengthen bilateral relations in all areas – important work that will continue under Prime Minister Kishida”.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he was “deeply saddened by the heinous murder of Shinzo Abe, democracy champion and my longtime friend and colleague”. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) was “stunned and deeply saddened” after the deadly attack.
At the G20 foreign ministers meeting in Bali, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also expressed deep sadness and concern. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen condemned the attack. Abe is not only her good friend, but also Taiwan’s closest friend, who has supported the island’s democratic republic for years, Tsai wrote on Facebook.
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised Abe’s leadership skills. “His global leadership in unprecedented times will be remembered by many,” Johnson said on Twitter.
Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog was shocked by Abe’s death. “Horrified by the heinous assassination of Abe, one of Japan’s most outstanding leaders of modern times,” Herzog wrote on Twitter on Friday. Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid hailed Abe as “a key architect of modern Israel-Japan relations” and expressed his condolences to Abe’s family and the Japanese people.
The Italian government also expressed condolences. “Italy is dismayed by the terrible murder that has befallen Japan and free democratic debate,” Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s official residence said on Friday.
The attack took place shortly before elections to the upper house of parliament on Sunday. “It is an attack on parliamentary democracy and cannot be tolerated,” said House Speaker Hiroyuki Hosoda. Even after his resignation in 2020, Abe continued to be a shaping force in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), controlling one of its most important factions.
Kishida, Abe’s protege, had hoped to use the election to step out of Abe’s shadow and define his position as prime minister, analysts said. Kishida suspended his campaign and returned to Tokyo. The government said there were no plans to delay the election.
Abe believed that Japan’s constitution was not that of an independent nation because it was imposed in 1946 by the occupying United States. His LDP party is expected to win a landslide victory in the upper house elections, after which the debate on amending the Constitution could gain steam.
Economically, Abe wanted to lift Japan out of decades of deflation and stagnation with his “Abenomics” economic policy of cheap money, debt-financed injections of economic stimulus and the promise of structural reforms. Admittedly, the number three in the global economy, meanwhile, has experienced the longest growth phase in years under Abe. It also boosted tourism, which brought a lot of money to the country before the corona pandemic. At the same time, however, “Abenomics” has meant that profits have been unevenly distributed in recent years, critics complained. One-third of all employees are out of permanent employment.