Japan court sentences man to death over 2019 Kyoto Animation arson attack
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A Japanese court on Thursday sentenced Shinji Aoba to death for his 2019 arson attack on a Kyoto Animation studio that killed 36 people in one of Japan's worst mass murders.
Aoba, 45, admitted in the trial at the Kyoto District Court to lighting the blaze at the animation firm's premises in Kyoto, western Japan, on July 18, 2019. In addition to the deaths, 32 employees were injured in the inferno.
Prosecutors demanded the death penalty for Aoba, while his defense argued he was mentally incompetent at the time of the attack and sought an acquittal or a lesser sentence.