Death sentence likely in Kyoto Animation arsonist trial

It will be next Thursday that the court will rule on the penalty to be applied to Shinji Aobathe arsonist who attacked the animation studio Kyoto Animation in July 2019, killing 36 people.

Aoba admitted that he committed the attack, although his lawyers declared his innocence due to mental illness. Himself Aoba He almost died in the fire, suffering burns to 90% of his body and requiring 12 operations.

O Japan It is one of the few developed countries that maintains the death penalty, which is carried out by hanging. Despite international criticism, public support for capital punishment remains high.

Judging by the death penalty handed down in Japan last week to a 21-year-old man for killing the parents of a young woman he had a crush on by setting her house on fire, many believe the arsonist of the Kyoto Animation will have the same fate.

The lawyers of Aoba stated that he “did not have the ability to distinguish between good and evil and to stop committing the crime due to a mental disorder”.

In its final statements, the public ministry stated:

Resentful of Kyoto Animation and as a form of revenge, [o réu] realized [um ataque] with the highest number of victims [de assassinato] in the history of Japanese criminal trials…

Their actions were carried out with firm murderous intent, premeditation and extensive knowledge of the dangers of spreading and lighting gasoline [que ele usou no ataque].

There are no present circumstances for which capital punishment should be avoided.

Before the start of your trial, when Aoba learned for the first time during police interrogation that the total number of deaths in the attack had been 36he reacted with “Oh, really?”, and stated “I thought if I spread gasoline around the building while lighting the fire, I could kill more people, so that’s why I did it”.

The trial’s verdict and sentence are scheduled to be announced on January 25.

The animation studio has already spoken previously under his arrest asking for the “maximum culpability that the law allows”.