TOKYO (AP) — Japanese prosecutors on Wednesday formally charged a 24-year-old man with attempted murder and other charges in connection with the April bomb attack on Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, court officials said.
Kishida was campaigning for elections in a small fishing port in Wakayama, western Japan, when a man at the venue of his speech suddenly threw a homemade pipe bomb at him. Kishida was uninjured, but two people suffered minor injuries.
Suspect Ryuji Kimura, 24, was arrested on the spot and was undergoing a three-month psychiatric evaluation conducted by the local prosecutor’s office to determine whether he is mentally fit to stand trial. According to local media reports, police and prosecutors also determined that the bomb used in the attack was deadly.
According to the Wakayama District Court, which accepted the indictment, prosecutors have formally charged Kimura and four others with attempted murder, including violating the Arms and Swords Control Act and the Explosives Control Act.
Trial dates have not yet been set, court officials said.
In the indictment, prosecutors allege that Kimura threw the handmade pipe bomb at Kishida with intent to kill, slightly injuring a police officer and a resident in the audience, Kyodo News reported.
Kimura refused to speak to authorities. But he may have been angry because he was unable to run in the 2022 election, Japanese media reported.
Investigators found he bought explosives for the bomb in November, around the time he lost his lawsuit against the government over the voting system, Kyodo News said.
The attack came about a year after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot dead while campaigning in Nara, western Japan.
Gun and bomb violence is extremely rare in Japan and the attacks on Abe and Kishida shocked many in the country.