December 16th, according to Yomiuri Shimbun news, the Kyoto District Prosecutor’s Office prosecuted Shinji Aoba, the suspect in the July 2019 Kyoto animation arson murder case, for murder and other charges. The case resulted in the death of 36 employees of Kyoto Animation.
At around 10:30 a.m. local time on July 18, 2019, the suspect Shinji Aoba broke into the No. 1 Kyoto Animation Studio in Fushimi District, Kyoto City, poured gasoline and set fire.
He burned down a three-story reinforced concrete building, killed 36 employees of the company, and attempted to kill 34 others.
On May 27 this year, Shinji Aoba was arrested by Kyoto prefectural police on suspicion of murder, attempted homicide, and arson. According to relevant sources, the suspect Shinji Aoba admitted to the crime after his arrest and confessed that “because of his grudge against Kyoto Animation”, “I think that if you use gasoline, you can kill many people”.
In order to investigate whether the suspect Shinji Aoba’s mental state was normal and whether he was capable of criminal responsibility at the time of the case, the Kyoto District Procuratorate implemented an identification lien on him from June 9 to December 11 this year.
Based on the identification results of professional doctors, it was determined that the suspect Shinji Aoba possessed criminal responsibility.
