A man has been sentenced to ten years in prison for the attempted murder of Japan’s former prime minister, Fumio Kishida, in 2023.
Ryuji Kimura, 25, flung a pipe bomb at Kishida as the country’s leader approached a crowd for a speech at an election rally in Wakayama.
Kishida was uninjured, but the handmade bomb exploded, injuring a police officer and a member of the public.
The attack shocked Japan since it occurred less than a year after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was fatally shot at an outdoor election campaign event.
Kimura, who was sentenced on Wednesday, said during questioning that his purpose was not to kill Kishida, but to oppose the country’s election age rule, which stopped him from entering politics.
He also stated that he threw the bomb to draw attention to a civil action he filed in 2022, which was dismissed.
Kimura’s defense contended that he should not be charged with attempted murder since he did not expect the device to inflict injuries, and that a three-year prison sentence would be appropriate given the severity of the injuries.
The court stated, however, that the explosives were powerful enough to cause fatal damage.
In addition to the attempted murder charge, Kimura was also found guilty of violating explosives regulations and firearms control laws.
His 10-year sentence is five years shorter than what prosecutors asked.
While violent attacks on politicians are extremely rare in Japan, concern over their safety has grown in the wake of Abe’s assassination in 2022.
The attempted attack on Kishida, which occurred less than a year later, aroused concerns about why there was not a stronger security presence around the country’s leader at the time.
