A man accused of fatally shooting former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe admitted to murder on Tuesday (October 28) in the first hearing of the case, media said, three years after the assassination of Japan's longest-serving premier stunned the nation.

Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, was arrested at the scene of the shooting in July 2022 after allegedly firing at Abe with a homemade gun while the former premier was giving a speech during an election campaign in the western city of Nara.

"It is true that I did it," Yamagami, who appeared calm in a black sweatshirt and grey trousers with grown-out hair tied at the back, told the court, public broadcaster NHK reported.

A lawyer for Yamagami subsequently asked for any punishment to be reduced, saying the handmade gun he used did not fall within the categor

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