TOKYO, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) — Japanese prosecutors on Thursday requested demise penalty for the male suspect indicted on costs together with homicide for the lethal 2019 arson assault on a Kyoto Animation Co. studio.
At the trial held on the Kyoto District Court, 45-year-old Shinji Aoba from Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, was charged with homicide and arson over dousing the No. 1 studio of the animation powerhouse, often known as KyoAni, with gasoline and beginning a hearth in July 2019.
The assault on the studio within the metropolis of Kyoto left 36 folks useless and 32 others injured.
According to a number of native media retailers, prosecutors on Thursday described the assault as an act of revenge stemming from a misdirected grudge, noting that it stands out in Japan’s prison historical past by way of the variety of victims.
The defendant deliberate the assault with a agency intention to kill, and was absolutely conscious of the risks of setting hearth to gasoline, in response to the prosecutors.
The prosecution acknowledged that Aoba harbored delusions, wrongly believing his novel that entered a contest held by KyoAni had been plagiarized by the agency, however mentioned his delusions had a restricted influence on his conduct and didn’t represent a cause to keep away from the utmost sentence, nationwide news company Kyodo reported on Thursday.
With the main target of the trial being whether or not Aoba was legally competent, the defendant argued that he suffered from a critical delusional dysfunction on the time of the assault, and lacked the psychological functionality to tell apart between proper and improper, thus they anticipated to plead not responsible.
Citing the horror and despair for the victims and their households, the prosecutors mentioned the defendant could be held absolutely accountable for what he did, and demanded that he be sentenced to demise.
The ruling is anticipated to be handed down on Jan. 25, 2024.