Japan | Court rules KyoAni killer's withdrawal of death sentence appeal was valid

OSAKA – The Osaka High Court ruled Tuesday that a defendant's withdrawal of his appeal against a death sentence in the Kyoto Animation arson-murder case is valid.

Shinji Aoba, 47, was sentenced to death by the Kyoto District Court in January 2024 and appealed the sentence the following month.

However, he retracted the appeal in January 2025. His lawyers then filed an appeal with the high court to contest the validity of his decision, claiming that a death sentence should not be made final on impulse.

In Tuesday's ruling, presiding Judge Hisashi Ito said that Aoba clearly understood the meaning of his decision.

Aoba had said that he should be given nothing other than a death sentence and that he wanted the trial to be completed as soon as possible.

The judge said the impact of the delusional disorder, which he had suffered from since before the incident, could hardly be seen in his decision-making process for the withdrawal.

Ito added that it was "not unreasonable" for Aoba to believe that withdrawing the appeal was better than being deemed delusional by a higher court and being executed.

Aoba set fire to a studio of Kyoto Animation, popularly known as KyoAni, in the city of Kyoto in July 2019, leaving 36 of the 70 people in the studio at the time dead and injuring 32 others.

Source: japantimes.co.jp, Staff, March 18, 2026

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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