Photo/Illutration Ryuji Kimura in Wakayama on May 8 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

WAKAYAMA--The suspect accused of disrupting Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s campaign speech by tossing a homemade explosive device close to his feet will undergo a psychiatric evaluation, sources close to the investigation said.

The Wakayama Summary Court has approved the Wakayama Public Prosecutors Office’s request for detention of Ryuji Kimura for the evaluation, the sources said.

Prosecutors will decide whether to indict Kimura, 24, based on the results. A psychiatric evaluation usually takes several months.

Kimura is suspected of throwing an explosive device near Kishida at the Saikazaki fishing port in Wakayama on April 15 when the prime minister was about to give a speech for a candidate from his ruling Liberal Democratic Party running in a Lower House by-election.

Kimura was arrested on the spot on suspicion of forcible obstruction of business.

On May 6, he was re-arrested on suspicion of producing about 530 grams of gunpowder without approval between November and April.

Kimura has remained silent during police questioning, sources said.

His detention period was to expire on May 28, but the detention will soon be suspended.

In a psychiatric evaluation, psychiatrists and other experts examine suspects at a hospital or elsewhere primarily to determine whether they were suffering from a mental disorder at the time of a crime.

Investigators are looking into whether Kimura may be charged with attempted murder as well as using explosives with intent to harm people in violation of explosives control rules, sources said.

If he is indicted for these crimes, Kimura will be tried in a trial where lay judges participate, and an assessment of his mental status could become an issue.

Kimura filed a damages suit against the government in June, saying it was unfair that he was unable to run in an Upper House election because he was under 30 years old.

He criticized the Kishida administration for its decision to hold a state funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated in Nara last July while he was giving a speech for an Upper House election candidate.

The Kobe District Court rejected the lawsuit in November.

Police and prosecutors are investigating whether the lawsuit being dismissed was related to his motive because he apparently started producing gunpowder in November, sources said.

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