The Japanese news agency Kyodo News quotes sources familiar with Sino-Japanese relations, revealing that the male suspect detained by local authorities in Suzhou for the murder case at the Japanese school in Suzhou, China, has been indicted. However, the report does not provide further details.
Suzhou police previously stated that the suspect, a 52-year-old unemployed man at the time, is a resident with an out-of-town household registration with the surname Zhou.
The Japanese schools in Suzhou and Shenzhen have been successively attacked by Chinese assailants wielding knives this year, resulting in casualties. Besides attracting widespread attention, the incidents have also become focal topics in Sino-Japanese relations.
On the afternoon of June 24 this year, suspect Zhou committed an attack near the Japanese school in Suzhou, injuring a Japanese mother and child waiting for the school bus. He then boarded the bus and continued his attack, fatally stabbing the female chaperone Hu Youping, who stood up to protect the children, shocking both Chinese and Japanese societies. Zhou was subsequently arrested.
Following the incident, on September 18, there was another case in Shenzhen where a Japanese schoolboy was stabbed to death, raising significant concerns about the safety of Japanese students in China.
After the incident, anti-Japanese sentiment appeared on Chinese social media, leading platforms like Weibo, NetEase, and Douyin to take action against extreme comments.