Lawyers across Asia have condemned the assassination of Japan’s former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, with the nation’s top legal federation pledging to “work harder” to eradicate gun violence.

Abe was Japan’s longest serving prime minister and held the role from 2012 to 2020. During a public address on Friday in Kashihara, Honshu, he was shot twice by an assailant carrying an improvised firearm, who was quickly apprehended by police.

His killing shocked Japan, where gun violence is extremely rare. Japan’s legal community has paid tribute Abe and has condemned the violent act unequivocally.

The president of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, Motoji Kobayashi, called the act a “serious attack on fundamental human rights and democracy”, adding in a statement: “From the standpoint of our mission to uphold human rights and to realize social justice, the Federation expresses its strong indignation at this act of violence and hereby resolves to continue to work even harder from now on for the purpose of the guarantee of freedom of speech, in addition to carrying out our mission as lawyers to eradicate such kind of violent behavior and firearms-related crimes from our society.”

Kazuhito Fukuyama, a lawyer and former vice president of the Kyoto Bar Association said on Twitter: “I am speechless. No matter what the reason is, such a heinous act cannot be tolerated. We must not turn into a society where people cannot speak freely. I sincerely pray that the soul of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may rest in peace.”

During his tenure, Abe worked towards fostering strong relationships with his Asian counterparts, notably in Southeast Asian countries. In 2016, he became the first leader to raise the ‘free and open Indo-Pacific vision’, with the aim of forging closer ties with these nations. And in India, Abe was particularly revered, having built a personal rapport with Prime Minister Narenda Modi.

Vivek Kathpalia, Singapore chief executive officer of one of India’s most prominent law firms, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, wrote on his LinkedIn page: “Rest in peace Abe-san. He was a great support of Indo-Japan relationship. 9th July will be an official day of national mourning in India. He will be missed.”

Intellectual property law firm Rouse published a page online saying the firm was “shocked to hear the news of the death” of Abe. It added: “We send our condolences to the people of Japan, our Japanese clients and friends.”

Abe’s reign was perhaps attributable to Japan’s increasing investments in Southeast Asia, which encouraged Japanese law firms to move in that direction. Over the past few years, the Big Four Japanese law firms—Nishimura & Asahi, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu and Anderson Mori & Tomotsune—have all launched offices in the region, and continue to expand in the region to support Japanese corporates, banks and trading houses with interests there.

Japanese companies have been looking for acquisitions overseas in recent years, encouraged by Abe’s ‘Abenomics’—economic policies that support outbound deals by providing low-cost financing.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the LatestLaws staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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