Overview
- At the ninth hearing in Nara on November 19, the defendant’s sister continued testifying as a defense witness in Shinzo Abe’s 2022 shooting case.
- She told the court their mother kept donating to the World Peace and Unification Family Federation and pressed her for money with intimidating behavior.
- Her testimony described the eldest brother abandoning university, assaulting their mother over the donations, and dying by suicide in 2015, after which Tetsuya Yamagami wept that it was his fault.
- She said she was not surprised to learn Abe was the victim after reports that the assailant bore a grudge against a specific group she believed was the church.
- A defense‑side lawyer testified that the suffering of religious second‑generation members could have been recognized earlier and that authorities did not deal with it.