A 45-year-old man was handed the death penalty on Thursday for setting a Kyoto Animation studio on fire in 2019 and killing 36 people in one of Japan’s deadliest mass murders, Report informs via The Japan Times.
The Kyoto District Court found Shinji Aoba guilty of setting the three-story building on fire because of a grudge he had against Kyoto Animation. He claimed the studio had stolen his ideas after it rejected his novels in an annual award contest the studio hosts. There is no evidence the studio plagiarized any of his work.
Aoba also sustained heavy burns over most of his body.
On Thursday morning, 409 people lined up for a lottery to get one of the 23 seats available to listen to Aoba’s ruling. Some members of the bereaved families were present as well.
The focus of the trial was on whether he was mentally competent enough to be held criminally liable.
Presiding Judge Keisuke Masuda said Aoba was not mentally incompetent nor in a diminished state at the time of the crime, judging that he is criminally liable for what he did.
Prosecutors had said he was competent enough and had argued that the death penalty was the only option given the gravity of Aoba’s crime. The defense team, meanwhile, had argued that he should be acquitted or receive a reduced sentence due to his diminished mental capability.
Two psychiatrists who testified in court were also divided over his mental state.
On July 18, 2019, Aoba bought 40 liters of gasoline, after which he entered the Kyoto Animation studio, splashed gasoline on six workers while shouting “Go to hell!” and set the building on fire with a lighter. The fire engulfed the building, killing 36 people and leaving another 32 injured.
In a December session, he apologized to the victims and their families and said that he should atone for what he did through the death penalty. He also said in September that he didn’t think so many people would die.