A Japanese court on Jan. 25 sentenced Shinji Aoba to death for the 2019 arson attack on a Kyoto Animation studio that killed 36 people, finding him mentally competent to be held accountable for his crimes. Aoba’s defense team appealed the ruling on Jan. 26.
Aoba, 45, earlier admitted to setting the blaze at the firm’s premises in Kyoto on July 18, 2019. In addition to the deaths, 32 employees were injured in the attack, which has gone down as one of Japan’s worst mass murders.
As the defendant confessed to his role in the incident, the focus of the trial at the Kyoto District Court had been on whether he could be declared mentally competent.
Aoba had told the court he was motivated to carry out his crimes under the belief that Kyoto Animation, better known as KyoAni, had plagiarized a novel he entered into a contest run by the firm.
While presiding Judge Keisuke Masuda acknowledged that Aoba did suffer from a delusional disorder, his conduct was little affected by it, and the defendant was “not in a state of mental incompetence or diminished capacity” at the time.
The court concluded there was no reason to avoid the death penalty even after considering circumstances favorable to the defendant.
Japan and the United States are the only Group of Seven nations that carry out capital punishment. (Kyodo, Reuters)
毎週届く！
