(Kyoto) A man was sentenced to the death penalty in Japan on Thursday for the arson of an animation studio in Kyoto, in the west of the country, which left 36 dead in 2019, media reported local.
The fire at the Kyoto Animation studio caused in revenge by Shinji Aoba, 45, is one of the crimes that has claimed the most victims in the archipelago in decades. It triggered a wave of emotion and indignation in Japan and abroad.
Mr. Aoba was on trial in Kyoto on five charges, including murder, attempted murder and arson. The prosecution had requested the death penalty against him last month.
Most of those killed in the fire were young employees of the Kyoto Animation studio, nicknamed “KyoAni”, including a 21-year-old woman. More than 30 other people were injured.
“I didn’t think so many people were going to die and now I think I’ve gone too far,” the accused said on the first day of his trial last September.
“I think I have to pay for my crime with (this sentence),” he also said during a subsequent hearing in December, when he was questioned about the wish of the victims’ families to see him sentenced to death. .
A “delusional” grudge
According to several testimonies, he broke into the studio building and poured gasoline before setting it on fire, shouting: “You are going to die”.
Firefighters described the fire as “unprecedented” and stressed that putting it out and rescuing people had been “extremely difficult”.
Shinji Aoba wanted revenge against KyoAni because he believed that the company had stolen a story idea from him, an allegation firmly rejected by the studio and which prosecutors called “delusional”.
The arsonist himself was seriously burned in the fire, which occurred on July 18, 2019 in Kyoto, and his injuries required multiple surgeries. He appeared at his trial in a wheelchair.
His lawyers pleaded not guilty, arguing that he lacked “the ability to distinguish between right and wrong” due to psychiatric disorders.
But the court ruled on Thursday that Mr. Aoba “neither suffered from dementia nor suffered from diminished mental capacity at the time of the crime,” public broadcaster NHK reported.
“Give me back my daughter”
“I should have told him not to go to work that morning,” the mother of Naomi Ishida, one of the victims, who was 49, told the Mainichi daily this week.
“Even if he is sentenced to death, Naomi and the others will not come back. I feel empty,” added this woman, whose husband died a month before the first hearing.
“Please give me back my daughter,” implored the mother of a victim who died at the age of 26 in the fire, and who spoke at Mr. Aoba’s trial in December. cited by NHK.
Along with the United States, Japan is one of the few democratic countries to still practice the death penalty, which is applied by hanging. Japanese public opinion remains largely in favor, despite criticism abroad.
The last execution in the country, where more than 100 convicts are on death row, dates back to 2022.
Founded in 1981, the KyoAni studio produced cartoons often inspired by manga.
KyoAni was renowned for the refinement of its production and attached to its location in the former imperial capital of Japan, Kyoto, while most Japanese animation studios are based in Tokyo.