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.