Sri Lankan PM pens condolences for Shinzo Abe at Japan Embassy

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday signed the condolences book for former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe at the Japanese Embassy. Abe was attacked last Friday morning in the Japanese city of Nara during his campaign speech. Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, approached the politician from behind and fired two shots from a distance of about 10 meters (33 feet).

The attacker reportedly plotted the assassination of the 67-year-old former head of government for nearly a year. After Friday’s unfortunate turn of events, a number of world leaders shared their wishes for Shinzo Abe. The Japanese government has decided to award Shinzo Abe with the country’s highest order posthumously.

Abe will receive the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum, Japan’s Kyodo News reported. The longest-serving PM of Japan will be the fourth former prime minister to receive the decoration under the postwar Constitution. Police said Abe was conscious immediately after being wounded, but then, during transportation, his condition became critical “with cardiac and pulmonary arrest.” Later in the day, Nara Medical University hospital pronounced him dead.

On Saturday, the head of police in Nara Prefecture, Kazuo Ohashi, said the potential security issues in the case of the assassination of Shinzo Abe cannot be denied. “There is no denying that there was a security issue there,” the official said in a press conference. According to Ohashi, the assassination was an act of “inexcusable barbarism,” and it is necessary to investigate the case “in the most thorough way.”