TOKYO (AFP) - Japanese prosecutors on Wednesday (Dec 16) charged a man with murder over the July 2019 arson attack on Kyoto Animation that killed 36 people, local media said, the country's deadliest violent crime in decades.

Shinji Aoba, 42, was detained in the aftermath of the attack, but has been hospitalised since then with severe burns suffered in the incident, and reportedly regained consciousness only the following month, in August.