KYOTO – Japanese prosecutors indicted Wednesday a 42-year-old man over an arson attack in July last year on a Kyoto Animation Co. studio that killed 36 people and injured 33 others.
Shinji Aoba, who was arrested in May for perpetrating one of Japan’s worst mass murders, has likely been determined by medical experts to be mentally competent based on his calculated actions.
Aoba was indicted on charges, including suspicion of murder, seven months after being arrested when authorities judged he had recovered sufficiently from life-threatening burns sustained in the incident on July 18, 2019, at the studio in Kyoto’s Fushimi Ward.
Aoba is currently under detention at the Osaka Detention House, which has medical facilities. He is bedridden and in need of daily care.
Immediately after being detained by police officers near the scene, Aoba said he carried out the attack because the company “stole a novel” from him, according to investigative sources. (Kyodo News)
