The gunman accused of killing Japan's former prime minister Shinzo Abe pled guilty Tuesday, three years after the assassination in broad daylight shocked the world.

The slaying forced a reckoning in a country with little experience of gun violence, and ignited scrutiny of alleged ties between prominent conservative lawmakers and a secretive sect, the Unification Church.

"Everything is true," Tetsuya Yamagami said at a court in the western city of Nara, admitting murder of the country's longest-serving leader in July 2022.

The 45-year-old was led into the room by four security officials.

When the judge asked him to state his name, Yamagami, who was wearing a black T-shirt and had his long hair tied at the back, replied in a barely audible voice.

However, his lawyer said they would cont

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