a japanese court The author of the fire that killed 36 people and seriously injured 32 people at a prestigious animation studio in 2019 was sentenced to death this Thursday After turning the facilities into a “flaming inferno” guided by his anger at the company.
Shinji Aoba, 45, who admitted to starting the fire at the Kyoto Animation studio complex (also known as KyoAni) in Kyoto City (west), was found guilty and sentenced to death for an “extremely serious” crime. and tragic,” according to an on-air ruling by public broadcaster NHK.
The judges of the Kyoto District Court chamber in charge of the case ruled that: There was no indication that Aoba was in a state of temporary insanity or mental illness. When he carried out the attack and determining his criminal liability were the biggest issues of contention in the case. According to the opinion, which describes the “crime of burning people” as “cruel and inhumane”, the convict “committed the crime of his own free will due to his anger towards Kyoto Animation and was not affected by delusions.”
Aoba entered the room in a wheelchair, where he collapsed due to the serious consequences of the fire in which he almost burned to death. When asked if he wanted to say anything, he remained silent for about 10 seconds before replying, “I have nothing to say,” according to the aforementioned state broadcaster. Shortly after the hearing started at 10.30 local time (1:30 GMT), the session was adjourned for a half-hour before the hour-long verdict was read, followed by a further recess for another hour and the hearing adjourned. After about 40 minutes. Today, for the sentence to be read, the court received 409 applications to occupy one of the 23 available seats.
The trial of the KyoAni incident, one of the worst and deadliest tragedies of its kind in Japan’s recent history, has been followed with great public expectation since it began in September last year.
On July 18, 2019, Aoba entered the studio shouting “I’m going to kill them”, poured a flammable liquid and set it on fire. Most of the 36 people, aged between 20 and 30, were trapped on the stairs of the building while trying to escape to the roof, whose door was closed. The court decision states, “The fear and pain of the victims and those who died after the first investigation, which suddenly turned into hell, are indescribable.”
The motivation for the event would be: Aoba’s belief that the studio plagiarized a novel He presented it in a competition organized by the company. He was at the Kyoto Animation Center the day the fire broke out. 70 of more than 170 studio employees“Lucky Star”, “K-ON!!” He became known both in Japan and abroad with productions such as. or “Violet Evergarden.”