TOKYO, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) — Pretrial proceedings for the suspected assassin of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe started at a district courtroom in Japan’s western metropolis of Nara on Friday.
The 43-year-old defendant, Tetsuya Yamagami, didn’t attend the closed-door first pretrial session at Nara District Court, which ended after about 20 minutes, in keeping with native media experiences.
The pretrial proceedings permit courtroom officers, prosecutors and legal professionals to slender down points, evaluation proof and set the trial’s schedule. His first trial listening to is predicted to be held subsequent yr on the earliest, Kyodo News stated.
The first pretrial session was initially slated for June 12, however was canceled after a suspicious cardboard field was delivered to the courtroom. The field was later discovered to have solely contained paper for a petition looking for leniency for Yamagami.
Yamagami stands accused of fatally taking pictures Abe when the previous prime minister was giving a marketing campaign speech in Nara on July 8, 2022.