New Delhi, Jan. 21 -- The man who killed former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe in a rare act of gun violence has been sentenced to life imprisonment, bringing to a close a years-long trial that profoundly shook Japan's political and social landscape.

Public broadcaster NHK reported on Wednesday that the Nara District Court handed down the sentence to Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, who admitted to assassinating Abe during an election campaign event in 2022.

Abe was shot in broad daylight on 8 July 2022 while delivering a campaign speech on a street near a railway station in the western city of Nara. Television footage captured two gunshots as the former leader raised his fist before collapsing, clutching his chest. Officials later said he die...