TOKYO: The shooting of Japan’s former premier, Shinzo Abe, was an “unforgiveable act”, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Friday (Jul 8), condemning it in the “strongest terms”.
Abe is currently in a “very grave condition”, he added.
“I pray that former prime minister Abe will survive,” Kishida said, adding that “everything that can be done is being done” to revive him.
“It is a barbaric act during election campaigning, which is the foundation of democracy, and it is absolutely unforgivable. I condemn this act in the strongest terms.”
Abe, who had been speaking at a campaign event in Nara, was shot at about 11.30am, chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said.
A man believed to be the assailant has been taken into custody. Local media identified him as 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami, citing police sources, with several media outlets describing him as a former member of the Maritime Self-Defense Force, the country’s navy.