Suspect in bomb attack on Japan PM Kishida indicted for attempted murder
- Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was out campaigning in April when a man threw a home-made pipe bomb at him; he wasn’t hurt but 2 others were
- Suspect Ryuji Kimura was arrested on the spot and put on a three-month psychiatric evaluation; police say the bomb was potentially lethal
Japanese prosecutors formally indicted a 24-year-old man on Wednesday for attempted murder and other charges in the explosives attack on Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in April, court officials said.
Suspect Ryuji Kimura, 24, was arrested on the spot and had been on a three-month psychiatric evaluation sought by the local prosecutors to determine if he is mentally fit for trial. Police and prosecutors also determined that the bomb used in the attack was lethal, according to local media reports.
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Prosecutors formally indicted Kimura on an attempted murder charge and four others, including violation of the gun and swords control law and the explosives control law, according to the Wakayama District Court, which accepted the indictment.
Trial dates have yet to be decided, court officials said.
In the indictment, prosecutors allege that Kimura threw the handmade pipe bomb at Kishida with an intent to kill, causing minor injuries to a police officer and a local resident in the audience.
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Kimura has refused to talk to the authorities. But he may have been angry because he couldn’t file for candidacy in 2022 elections, Japanese media reported.
Investigators found he bought explosives used to make the bomb in November, around the time he lost his lawsuit against the government over the election system.
The attack came about a year after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot and killed while campaigning for elections in Nara, Western Japan.
Gun and bomb violence in Japan is very rare, and the attacks on Abe and Kishida shocked many in the country.
