An overnight vigil will be held on Monday night, while Abe’s funeral will be held on Tuesday in the presence of relatives and friends, Japanese media reported. At the moment it is not known if there will be a public ceremony in his memory.
In state of shock remains today the Japanone day after the assassination of the former prime minister Shinzo Abewhose body was flown to Tokyo from the western part of the country where he was when he was attacked.
The assassination of one of Japan’s best-known politicians, which he ruled for eight years, shocked and caused grief both at home and abroad.
The alleged as perpetrator of the attack, arrested at the scene, confessed to deliberately targeting Abe, explaining to police that he did so because he believed the former prime minister was associated with a “particular organisation”. Some Japanese media reported a religious organization.
The 41-year-old man, a former member of Japan’s Navy, according to local media, used, police said “an improvised weapon.”
At the time of the attack Abe was campaigning in Nara for the elections for the nomination of the members of the upper house that will take place tomorrow, Sunday. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced yesterday Friday that preparations for the elections, “the basis of democracy”, are continuing as normal.
Abe’s widow, Akie, was aboard the hearse today that took her husband’s body from Kashihara Hospital near Nara, where he had been treated after the attack, to their home in Tokyo.
The death of 67-year-old Abe, who received two bullets in the neckwas announced a few hours after the attack, despite the efforts made by a team of twenty doctors.
“Barbaric Energy”
Abe’s assassination sent shockwaves through Japan, with Kishida, who had been his mentor, denouncing a “barbaric and unforgivable action”.
The killing was condemned by the international community.
Besides, many people went to the site of the attack to honor the former prime minister. “I couldn’t do anything”said 54-year-old Shasie Nagafuzi, who went with her son to leave some flowers last night.
“I really respected and trusted him as a politician”he added.
More than 100 people were waiting in line today at noon (local time) to lay flowers on a table on which was placed a photo of the slain former prime minister.
It will take place on Monday night vigils, while Abe’s funeral will be held on Tuesday in the presence of relatives and friends, Japanese media reported. At the moment it is not known if there will be a public ceremony in his memory.
Abe owns it record for Japan’s longest-serving prime minister. He became prime minister for the first time in 2006 from an MP and lasted just a year, but then ran for prime minister again – a rarity for the country – in 2012 with a pledge to revive the stagnant economy, relax the boundaries of the pacifist post-war Constitution and restore traditional values. He remained prime minister until 2020 when he resigned for health reasons.
Strict gun control
Local officials of the governor Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) clarified that they had not received any threats before the attack.
Abe’s assassination brought it to the fore the issue of the safety of public figures in Japan, where it is common for politicians to hold rallies outside train stations or supermarkets during the campaign period.
In Japan gun laws are among the strictest in the world. Under these restrictions, citizens are not allowed to carry firearms and licensed hunters are only allowed to possess hunting weapons.
Gun owners are required to attend classes, pass written tests and undergo a mental health examination, and their criminal records are also checked.
Attacks targeting politicians are also unusual. Attacks have been few and far between in the last 50 years, most prominently in 2007 when the mayor of Nagasaki was assassinated by a thug, an incident that led to further tightening of gun restrictions.
The last time a former prime minister was assassinated was in 1936 during the country’s extreme pre-war militarism.
RES-EMP
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