TOKYO (AFP) – A man accused of throwing an explosive at Japan’s prime minister had previously filed a lawsuit against the government, a court spokesman said yesterday.
Japanese media said the lawsuit filed in June by the suspect, named as 24-year-old Ryuji Kimura, was a complaint about the country’s minimum age for running in elections.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was unharmed after the attack on Saturday, in which a suspected pipe bomb was tossed towards him at a campaign event at a port in western Japan.
Kimura was arrested at the scene of the incident, which occurred less than a year after former prime minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated on the campaign trail.
Under Japanese law, candidates for upper house elections must be 30 or older, while the minimum age to run for parliament’s lower house is 25.
Kimura’s lawsuit argued it was unconstitutional he could not run in last summer’s upper house vote, the Yomiuri Shimbun and other outlets reported, citing court records.
An Osaka High Court spokesman told AFP that Kimura had sued the government but his claim was rejected by a lower court.
Kimura has appealed, and the Osaka court will issue its ruling next month.
Local media said Kimura had sought JPY100,000 (USD750) in damages for the “mental distress” of not being able to stand for election.
As well as not meeting the age requirement, Kimura was unable to provide a mandatory JPY3 million deposit that all candidates must pay, the Yomiuri said.
Police are investigating if the explosive thrown at Kishida shortly before he gave a speech in Wakayama had lethal power, local media said.
