The Kyoto Animation arson and murder case that killed 36 people has finally been settled after years of trial. The Osaka High Court ruled on March 17 that the "withdrawal of appeal" filed by the defendant Shinji Aoba (47 years old) in January 2025 was valid, and rejected the defense lawyer's request that "it could not be judged normally at the time and should be invalid." This means that the death sentence is officially confirmed and cannot be overturned.
Shinji Aoba broke into Kyoto Animation Studio No. 1 in July 2019 and set fire to it, killing 36 people and injuring 32 others to varying degrees. In January 2024, the Kyoto District Court found him fully capable of criminal responsibility and sentenced him to death. The defense immediately filed an appeal, but in January 2025, Aoba himself submitted a written application to withdraw the appeal, making the death penalty once confirmed. However, the defense lawyer subsequently applied to the Osaka High Court to find that the withdrawal was invalid on the grounds of "Aoba's mental disorder."
In its ruling on March 17, the court clearly stated that Aoba did not have abnormal judgment caused by long-term detention, and he had previously stated that "there is no other possibility except capital punishment and hopes to end the trial as soon as possible." The legal implications of withdrawing the appeal can be understood. Although he later stated that he "regrets this", the court believed that it was regret for placing a burden on the defense lawyer, rather than a denial of the withdrawal of the appeal itself. Regarding the mental state at the time of withdrawal, the court found that "there were no other problems except delusion" and its impact was extremely limited. Therefore, it ruled that the withdrawal of the appeal was valid.
At this point, this case that shocked the world and was called "the deadliest arson incident since the Heisei era" finally came to the end of the judicial process nearly seven years after the incident.
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