Suspect Charged With Attempted Murder In Explosives Attack On Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida

Japanese prosecutors Wednesday indicted a 24-year-old man on attempted murder and other crimes in the April explosives attack on Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, court officials said.

Kishida was campaigning for elections at a small fishing port in the western Japanese prefecture of Wakayama when a guy at the speech venue launched a homemade pipe bomb at him. Kishida was unharmed, but two others were injured.

Suspect Ryuji Kimura, 24, was detained on the spot after undergoing a three-month psychiatric evaluation requested by local prosecutors to determine his mental fitness for trial. The device used in the attack was also declared to be fatal by police and prosecutors.

According to the Wakayama District Court, which accepted the indictment, prosecutors formally charged Kimura with attempted murder and four other charges, including violation of the gun and sword control legislation and the explosives control statute.

Court officials stated that trial dates have yet to be determined.

Prosecutors allege in the indictment that Kimura tossed the homemade pipe bomb at Kishida with the intent to kill, injuring a police officer and a local person in the audience.

Kimura has refused to cooperate with the police.

Investigators discovered that he acquired the explosives used to create the explosion in November, shortly after losing his lawsuit against the government over the electoral system.

Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot and died while campaigning for elections in Nara, western Japan, about a year ago.

In Japan, gun and bomb violence is extremely rare, and the attacks on Abe and Kishida stunned many people.

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