An arsonist has been sentenced to death in Japan after killing 36 people in an attack on an animation studio.
The 45-year-old defendant, Shinji Aoba, was charged with murder and arson in 2020, a year after setting fire to Kyoto Animation in what was Japan’s deadliest attack in recent decades.
The Kyoto District Court said it found the defendant – who appeared in court in a wheelchair – mentally capable of facing punishment for his crimes and announced the death sentence.
Judge Keisuke Masuda said: “The loss of 36 precious lives is too serious and tragic. The fear and pain of being engulfed in flames, black smoke, and hot wind in an instant is immeasurable and indescribable.
“It is all too easy to imagine,” he said, according to NHK broadcaster television. “The grief, pain, loss, and anger of the bereaved families is so deep and profound that it is natural that they would want capital punishment.”
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Aoba stormed into the building in the city of Kyoto on July 18, 2018, before pouring gasoline onto the entrance area and setting it on fire. Many of the victims – aged between 21 and 61 – were believed to have died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
The attack injured 32 others and left Aoba severely burned to the point of being unconscious and required treatment for 10 months until his arrest in May 2020, according to the Asahi Shimbun. He was found guilty of murder on Thursday.
Aoba had a history of mental illness stemming from childhood, social withdrawal, and living in poverty, according to NHK national television. Aoba reportedly became unemployed at the age of 30 after repeatedly changing part-time jobs and apartments.
Judge Keisuke Masuda said Aoba had begun writing novels after he saw an anime produced by Kyoto Animation, according to NHK.
But his dream of becoming a novelist was unsuccessful, which prompted his resentment towards the studio, after he thought that Kyoto Animation had plagiarized ideas from one of his novels he submitted to the company’s novel-writing competition and profited from it, an allegation that the studio has denied.
NHK also reported that Aoba had originally plotted a separate attack on a train station in Saitama City a month before the arson attack.
Kyoto Animation – also known as KyoAni – was founded in 1981, known for producing high quality animations and emotional storytelling that has earned a reputation among anime fans worldwide.
Some of its popular works include the anime TV adaptation of light novels, “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya,” and “Violet Evergarden,” and an animated movie adaptation of manga series “A Silent Voice.”
The arson attack was Japan’s deadliest since the Myojo 56 building fire in September 2001, when a structural fire in Tokyo’s Kabukicho entertainment district killed 44 people.
