OSAKA (Kyodo) Prosecutors demanded the death penalty Thursday for a man charged with arson and murder in a fire at a video-viewing establishment in Osaka last October that left 16 people dead and four others injured.
Kazuhiro Ogawa, 47, has pleaded not guilty to the charges in his trial at the Osaka District Court.
According to the indictment, the unemployed Ogawa lit tissue paper in a carry-on suitcase containing newspapers and other items with his lighter at the establishment out of an urge to commit suicide early on the morning of Oct. 1, 2008.
His defense counsel has said it is possible the fire broke out in a different room than the one Ogawa occupied and that the real culprit remains at large.