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Kyoto Animation Arsonist Sentenced to Death

Shinji Aoba found guilty of murder and arson in one of Japan's deadliest attacks

Firefighters battle a blaze at the Kyoto Animation studio in Kyoto, Japan, on July 18, 2019.
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Police officers gather outside the Kyoto District Court in Kyoto, western Japan, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024, ahead of the sentencing hearing for Shinji Aoba, who has confessed to a deadly arson attack in July 2019 on a Kyoto Animation Co. studio.
The burnt out studio building with a charred exterior

Overview

  • Shinji Aoba, the man responsible for the 2019 arson attack on Kyoto Animation studio that killed 36 people, has been sentenced to death by the Kyoto District Court.
  • Aoba was found guilty of murder and arson, with the court rejecting his defense's argument that he was mentally unfit to be held criminally responsible.
  • The attack was one of the deadliest in Japan's recent history, causing shock and grief both domestically and internationally.
  • Aoba carried out the attack as he believed the studio had plagiarised his work, a claim the studio denies.
  • The death penalty in Japan is typically reserved for cases of multiple murders, and as of December 2023, there were 107 people on death row in the country.