A Japanese court will on Wednesday deliver its verdict on a man accused of fatally shooting former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, three and a half years after the assassination of the country's longest-serving premier stunned the nation.

Japan's Nara District Court will deliver its verdict on Tetsuya Yamagami, who has been charged with the 2022 assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Prosecutors are seeking a life sentence in one of Japan's most closely watched criminal trials in recent years.

Former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who was also a longtime aide to former premier Shinzo Abe, will not seek reelection in the next