A 25-year-old man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for throwing a homemade pipe bomb at Japan’s former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a campaign event in April 2023, Al Jazeera reports.
The Wakayama District Court delivered the sentence on Wednesday, convicting Ryuji Kimura of attempted murder and four other charges, including violations of explosives and weapons laws.
The attack, which occurred at a fishing port in Wakayama, western Japan, was deemed a serious challenge to democracy by Judge Keiko Fukushima. According to Japan’s Kyodo News agency, the court ruled that Kimura was aware of the potential for a fatality in the attack, which posed a significant danger to the public.
Prime Minister Kishida was unharmed in the incident, which happened less than a year after the assassination of former premier Shinzo Abe on the campaign trail.
“Severe punishment is needed to prevent copycats, and it cannot be underestimated that he has seriously disrupted the electoral system, which is the basis of democracy,” Judge Fukushima stated, as cited by broadcaster NHK.
During the trial, Kimura pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, claiming he did not intend to kill Kishida and only sought to draw attention to his dissatisfaction with Japan’s election system by targeting a prominent politician. His defense team argued for a three-year sentence, citing his denial of intent to kill. Lawyers argued that his “purpose was to gain [public] attention” and therefore the charge should be “inflicting injury,” not attempted murder, NHK reported.
Prosecutors, however, described the attack as a “malicious terror act,” emphasizing that Kimura knew his explosive device was lethal. They had sought a 15-year sentence.
Despite Japan’s strict gun control laws, which make gun-related crime rare, the country has seen a rise in high-profile attacks involving knifings and homemade weapons and explosives.
