(Update) Man Gets 10 Years over Attack on Ex-Japan PM Kishida

   Wakayama, Feb. 19 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese district court on Wednesday sentenced a 25-year-old man to 10 years in prison over a high-profile attack on then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during election campaigning in the western Japan city of Wakayama in 2023.
   Handing down the sentence, against 15 years in prison that had been demanded by public prosecutors, Wakayama District Court Presiding Judge Keiko Fukushima concluded that the defendant, Ryuji Kimura, had murderous intent through willful negligence.
   During the lay-judge trial of Kimura, indicted on charges including attempted murder, the defense had claimed that he had no intention to kill anyone and that three years in prison would be appropriate as the defendant was only considered guilty of inflicting bodily injury.
   Kimura, who manufactured what appeared to be a pipe bomb used in the attack, "cannot be considered to have lacked awareness of its lethal force," the presiding judge said in the day's ruling.
   "He should have easily understood from common sense the possibility of the explosive killing people," when it is used in a place where there are many people, the judge said.

(2025/02/19-17:10)

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