TOKYO, Feb 4, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - The gunman convicted of shooting dead former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2022 has appealed his life sentence, reports said Wednesday.

Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, was found guilty two weeks ago at the Nara District Court and was jailed for life for using a homemade gun to assassinate Abe during an outdoor campaign event.

Major Japanese media including Kyodo News, the Mainichi Shimbun, Jiji Press and regional broadcaster MBS reported that Yamagami's lawyers filed the appeal on Wednesday.

His defence lawyers could not immediately be reached for confirmation.

Abe's shooting 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.

Yamagami's case drew some public sympathy as his defence team argued that the attack was triggered by his mother's blind donations to the Church that pushed his family into bankruptcy.

Abe had spoken at events organised by some of the Church's groups. The sect supported his Liberal Democratic Party in elections.