A man has been sentenced to death by a Japanese court for setting fire to the highly regarded Kyoto Animation studio in 2019, leading to the deaths of 36 individuals in one of the country’s worst mass killings in nearly two decades, as reported by public broadcaster NHK.
The defendant, Shinji Aoba, was found guilty of murder and arson. Aoba admitted to police that he set fire to the studio using gasoline, claiming his work had been plagiarized.
At the time of the blaze, numerous people were inside the three-story building. The fire spread rapidly, leaving many with no opportunity to escape. All of those who perished were employees, and at least 32 others sustained injuries.
During the ruling, the presiding Judge Keisuke Masuda condemned Aoba’s actions as “truly atrocious and inhumane.” He emphasized the serious and tragic nature of the victims’ deaths, describing how the studio was engulfed in flames and smoke.
A 2019 news conference revealed that Aoba had unspecified mental health issues. He pleaded not guilty during the trial, contending that he was not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.
However, prosecutors argued that Aoba was fully competent and sought the death penalty. The judge determined that Aoba was capable of discerning right from wrong at the time of the incident.
The attack marked the worst mass killing in Japan since a 2001 arson in Tokyo that claimed 44 lives and surpassed the death toll of the infamous 1995 Tokyo sarin gas attack on a subway, which resulted in the loss of 13 lives. The Kyoto attack had a profound impact worldwide, as fans mourned the loss of life and the studio, known for prioritizing its employees and producing high-quality animations.
Established in 1981, Kyoto Animation, also known as KyoAni, gained recognition for creating exceptional animations that encompassed both the mystical and the everyday. Some of its popular works include animated series such as “Free!,” manga series “K-On!,” the anime TV adaptation of “the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya,” and “Violet Evergarden,” which was picked up by Netflix in 2018.
This article has been updated.
