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Agence France-Presse

A Japanese court on Thursday sentenced to death the perpetrator of a 2019 arson attack on an animation studio that killed 36 people, local media reported.
The blaze that ripped through the studios of Kyoto Animation four-and-a-half years ago was Japan’s deadliest crime in decades, stunning the anime industry and its fans around the world.
Shinji Aoba, now 45, broke into the building, spread petrol around the ground floor, lit it and shouted “drop dead” on the morning of July 18, 2019, survivors said.
Many of those killed were young, including a 21-year-old woman.
A number of victims were found on a spiral stairwell leading to the roof, suggesting they were overcome as they desperately tried to escape.
“There was a person who jumped from the second floor … but we couldn’t rush to help because the fire was so strong,” one woman told local media at the time.
“It was like I was looking at hell.”
Black Widow case shows Japan’s support for death penalty alive and kicking
More than 30 others were injured, with firefighters calling the incident “unprecedented” and saying that rescuing people trapped inside was “extremely difficult”.
Aoba’s lawyers entered a plea of not guilty, saying he “did not have the capacity to distinguish between good and bad and to stop committing the crime due to a mental disorder”.
But on Thursday, the judge ruled Aoba was “neither insane nor suffering diminished mental capacity at the time of the crime”, NHK reported.
Aoba remained seated when bowing with others present at the start of court proceedings. When asked if he had anything to say before the court announced his sentence, an emotionless Aoba said he did not.
Inside the courtroom packed with family members of the victims, one person cried and covered their eyes as the judge spoke, the broadcaster reported.
Later the court handed down a sentence of capital punishment, local media reported.


The high-profile trial attracted 409 members of the public who queued outside the courtroom amid snowy conditions to secure tickets to observe proceedings.
“I didn’t think so many people would die, and now I think I went too far,” Aoba told the Kyoto District Court when the trial opened in September, reports said at the time.
Aoba had a “delusion” that the studio known by its fans as KyoAni stole his ideas, prosecutors said, a claim the company has denied.
Aoba suffered burns in the fire covering 90 per cent of his body and reportedly needed 12 operations.
He regained consciousness weeks later and was said to have sobbed with relief after undergoing a procedure that restored his ability to speak.
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Japan is one of the few developed countries with capital punishment, typically meted out in murder cases with more than one victim, and polls show public support is high.
Criticism from rights groups though is rife, with inmates often informed of their imminent execution on the morning of the day they are to be hanged.
The last execution was in 2022 and, as of December, 107 people were on death row.
The highest-profile executions in recent years were in 2018, when Japan hanged 13 people – including the guru of a doomsday cult – responsible for the 1995 sarin attacks on Tokyo’s subway.

Founded in 1981 by a husband and wife, KyoAni is a household name for anime fans, responsible for popular TV series including “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” and “K-ON!”
After the attack, there was shock and grief in Japan and worldwide, with Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeting that KyoAni’s artists “spread joy all over the world and across generations with their masterpieces”.
A US animation company raised US$2.4 million via crowdfunding to help the firm get back on its feet.

For families of the deceased, the pain of their loss remains excruciating to this day.
“I should have told her not to go to work that morning,” the mother of 49-year-old Naomi Ishida told the Mainichi daily this week.
“Even if he gets the death penalty, Naomi and others won’t come back. I feel empty,” said the woman, whose husband died a month before the first hearing.
Additional reporting by Kyodo


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Japan

Japanese man gets death sentence for Kyoto Animation studio arson attack that killed 36 people

Smoke rises from the Kyoto Animation studio in 2019. Photo: Jiji Press/AFP

Shinji Aoba suffered burns in the fire covering 90 per cent of his body. File photo: Jiji Press/AFP

People head to the Kyoto District Court in western Japan on Thursday to secure courtroom seating tickets for the sentencing hearing of Shinji Aoba. Photo: Kyodo

KyoAni studio destroyed in deadly arson attack ‘brought revolutionary change to Japan animation’, fans say

A keychain with a cartoon image is placed on top of flowers placed near the Kyoto Animation Studio building destroyed in an attack Friday. Photo: AP

A man prays for the victims of Thursday's fire at the Kyoto Animation Studio building, Friday, July 19, 2019, in Kyoto, Japan. A man screaming "You die!" burst into the animation studio in Kyoto, doused it with a flammable liquid and set it on fire Thursday, killing dozens of people in the attack that shocked the country and brought an outpouring of grief from anime fans. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A man places flowers to honor the victims of Thursday's fire at the Kyoto Animation Studio building, Friday, July 19, 2019, in Kyoto, Japan. A man screaming "You die!" burst into the animation studio in Kyoto, doused it with a flammable liquid and set it on fire Thursday, killing dozens of people in the attack that shocked the country and brought an outpouring of grief from anime fans. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

‘Black Widow’ case shows Japan’s support for death penalty is alive and kicking

Japanese woman Chisako Kakehi, who has been dubbed Japan’s ‘Black Widow’ for poisoning her husband and lovers with cyanide. Photo: AFP

The Kyoto District Court sentences to death Chisako Kakehi, 70, a serial killer dubbed Japan's "black widow" on Nov. 7, 2017 for the murders of her husband and two common-law partners, as well as the attempted murder of an acquaintance, between 2007 and 2013. (Pool photo)(Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Peole line up seeking admission tickets for a judgment trial of Chisako Kakehi at the Kyoto district court on November 7, 2017. Kakehi, a one-time millionairess dubbed the "Black Widow" over the untimely deaths of lovers and a husband, was sentenced to death on November 7, 2017, in a high-profile murder case that has gripped Japan. / AFP PHOTO / JIJI PRESS / STR / Japan OUT / JAPAN POOL

Attacker screamed ‘You die!’ and set fire to Japanese animation studio, leaving 33 dead

A fire at an animation studio in Kyoto has left several people dead. Photo: Xinhua

An aerial view shows firefighters battling the fires at the site where a man started a fire after spraying a liquid, at a three-story studio of Kyoto Animation Co. in Kyoto, western Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo July 18, 2019. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. JAPAN OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN JAPAN. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Smoke billows from a three-story building of Kyoto Animation in a fire in Kyoto, western Japan, Thursday, July 18, 2019. Kyoto prefectural police said the fire broke out Thursday morning after a man burst into it and spread unidentified liquid and put fire. (Kyodo News via AP)

A fire fighter watches an animation company which caught fire in Kyoto on July 18, 2019. - A fire at an animation company in Japan's Kyoto on July 18 killed one person and injured dozens more, several of them seriously, a fire department spokesman said. (Photo by JIJI PRESS / JIJI PRESS / AFP) / Japan OUT

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Shinji Aoba had a ‘delusion’ that the studio stole his ideas, prosecutors said, a claim the company has denied
The arson attack was Japan’s deadliest crime in decades, stunning the anime industry and its fans around the world


Shinji Aoba had a ‘delusion’ that the studio stole his ideas, prosecutors said, a claim the company has denied.


Crime