KYODO NEWS



 

A suspicious box was delivered Monday to a Japanese court scheduled to try the man indicted for murdering former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, prompting visitors to evacuate and leading to the cancellation of trial preparations planned for the day.

The cardboard box set off a metal detector at the Nara District Court in western Japan but was later found to have contained petitions seeking leniency for the defendant, Tetsuya Yamagami, a source familiar with the matter said.

Yamagami stands accused of fatally shooting Abe with a handmade gun during an election stump speech in the western city of Nara in July last year. The incident sent shockwaves across Japan and the world.

The 42-year-old defendant had been scheduled to attend the first pretrial proceedings Monday afternoon, when court officials, prosecutors and lawyers were expected to narrow down issues, review evidence and set the trial schedule.

According to police, the box, measuring about 33 centimeters in length, 28 cm in width and 26 cm in height, was delivered to the court at around 11:15 a.m. and had many A4 size sheets of paper inside.

It was addressed to the person in charge of the pretrial procedures and supposedly from a Tokyo resident. The court notified the police about the suspicious item after the box set off a metal detector before being opened.
Police found no explosive devices or other dangerous objects.

The source said the pages were a petition signed by about 13,000 people. A person in Kiyose, Tokyo, who has been collecting signatures, admitted to the police that they sent the papers to the court.

The sender denied using staples or paper clips and told reporters it was not clear what activated the metal detector.

The incident prompted personnel at the court and visitors to evacuate from the building, while many police officers were on alert in and outside the court premises.

Yamagami's defense team said it was deplorable that the pretrial proceedings did not take place as scheduled and called for the process to move ahead "calmly."

Abe, Japan's longest-serving leader, died on July 8 last year after being shot at close range while giving a campaign speech two days ahead of the House of Councillors election. Yamagami was arrested on the spot.

Yamagami is facing multiple charges, including allegedly making guns and gunpowder without authorization and testing the firearms. The guns were reportedly made with metal pipes and cords and assembled using a drill and a vise.

He has told investigators that he held a grudge against the Unification Church and targeted Abe because he was a grandson of former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, who helped the controversial religious group set up a Japanese chapter.

He has said his mother's large donations to the organization, established in South Korea by a staunch anti-communist in 1954, left his family in financial ruin, investigative sources have said earlier.