TOKYO: A Japanese man sentenced to death for an arson attack that killed 36 people at an anime studio has dropped his appeal and accepted the court’s penalty, a lawyer and local media said Tuesday.

Shinji Aoba, 46, was sentenced to death in January last year over the 2019 blaze at the studios of Kyoto Animation — Japan’s deadliest crime in decades.

But his defence team had appealed the ruling, claiming he had a mental disorder.

Daisuke Okeda, a lawyer representing Kyoto Animation, said in a statement on Tuesday that he was “aware that the appeal has been withdrawn”, but declined to comment further.

Public broadcaster NHK and other Japanese media reported Tuesday that Aoba had dropped the appeal on Monday, citing the Osaka High Court.

Aoba’s lawyers could file a motion to invalidate his withdrawal of the appeal, but no motion has been filed so far, according to Japanese network ABC News.

On the morning of July 18, 2019, Aoba broke into the studio building, spread gasoline around the ground floor, lit it and shouted “drop dead”, according to survivors.

Many of those killed were young, including a 21-year-old woman.

The victims “were engulfed in fire and smoke in the blink of an eye… They died an anguishing death as the studio instantly turned into a hell”, presiding judge Keisuke Masuda said in his ruling last year.

A number of victims were found on a spiral stairwell leading to the roof, suggesting they were overcome as they desperately tried to escape.

More than 30 others were injured, with firefighters calling the incident “unprecedented”.

Aoba, who was arrested near the scene, sustained burns on 90 percent of his body and only regained consciousness weeks after the fire.

Aoba believed that the studio — known by its fans as KyoAni — stole his ideas, prosecutors said, a claim the company has denied.

Japan is one of the few developed countries with capital punishment and polls show public support for it is high.

As of December, more than 100 people were on death row in the country.

AFP