The suspect in the arson attack on Kyoto Animation's No. 1 studio, which left 36 people dead, admitted to setting the 2019 blaze in the first hearing of his lay judge trial Tuesday, but his defense team entered a plea of not guilty, maintaining that he is mentally unfit to be held criminally liable.
The focus of the trial will now shift to 45-year-old Shinji Aoba’s motive and whether he can be held criminally responsible for the attack.
“I have done (what I have been accused of),” Aoba, who is facing murder and attempted murder charges, told the hearing at the Kyoto District Court after being pushed into the courtroom in a wheelchair.