A Japanese court on Wednesday convicted an accused who threw a homemade pipe bomb at former Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida at a 2023 campaign event, as per the local media reports. The accused, identified as Ryuji Kimura (25), has been sentenced to 10 years in prison by the court.
He was charged with attempted murder and four other charges including violations of laws on explosives and other weapons for the April 15, 2023, attack on Kishida at a small fishing port in the western city of Wakayama.
In its ruling, the Wakayama District Court sentenced Kimura to 10 years in prison, according to Japan's public television and other media, without specifying which of the five charges he was found guilty of. The court did not immediately confirm the ruling by phone.
In early February, Kimura, at an opening session of the trial, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, saying he didn't intend to kill Kishida. The then-prime minister escaped the attack, but two people sustained minor injuries. Kimura was arrested on the spot.
The attack shocked the East Asian island nation as a year earlier, Kishida's predecessor, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, was assassinated during a campaign speech in Nara, another city in western Japan.
(With AP inputs)