Japan: Anime Studio Arsonist Gets Death Sentence for Killing 36

Facts

• A court in Japan has sentenced Shinji Aoba, 45, to death for an arson attack on the anime studio Kyoto Animation in 2019 that killed 36 people and injured 32 others.¹
• The Kyoto District Court on Thursday said Aoba was 'neither insane nor suffering diminished mental capacity at the time of the crime.'²
• Though he pleaded guilty to the attack, Aoba's lawyers contended that he had mental health issues that inhibited his ethical decision-making.³
• Aoba had reportedly set the studio, known as KyoAni, on fire by dousing petrol on the building's ground floor. He also suffered severe burns, and was in the hospital for 10 months before his arrest in May 2020.⁴
• Prosecutors claim Aoba held a delusional belief that KyoAni had plagiarised his work, and had full capacity and understanding of his criminal conduct.⁵
• Japan uses hanging to carry out capital punishment, however, convicted offenders usually spend years on death row.⁶

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²Guardian, ³Washington Post, ⁴Al Jazeera, ⁵BBC News and ⁶Independent.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by The Asahi Shimbun. Both violent crimes and capital punishment are rare in Japan. For the first time in three years, the country had no executions in 2023. As long as atrocious, unprecedented, and audacious offenses — like Aoba's — continue, Japan should wisely and judiciously use the punishment as an effective form of deterrent.
• Narrative B, as provided by Ucanews.Com. There's no doubt that Aoba's grave act of arson and mass murder has scarred the families of victims forever. However, the death penalty won't bring the deceased back. It's imperative that Japan abolish capital punishment, as a matter of human rights and humanitarian principles.

Predictions