AUM ‘doctor’ sentenced to death

Mainichi Shimbun ^ | 10/29/2003

[dighton]

Former AUM Shinrikyo linchpin Tomomasa Nakagawa indicted on 11 charges, including those related to the deadly sarin gassing on the Tokyo subway system and the murder of a lawyer’s family, was sentenced to death on Wednesday.

Nakagawa was a medical school graduate and served as doctor to AUM Shinrikyo guru Shoko Asahara when he committed the murderous crimes upon the orders of the cult’s boss.

Nakagawa had initially admitted to the 11 crimes but later denied most of the allegations, including the Tokyo gassing in March 1995 and another lethal attack using sarin gas in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture in June 1994.

But the Tokyo District Court turned down Nakagawa’s claims, and said that in the lawyer family murder case in 1989, he choked wife Satoko Sakamoto and covered the face of one-year-old Tatsuhiko, the lawyer’s son, with a towel in an attempt to murder him.

On the sarin attack in Matsumoto, Presiding Justice Yuichi Okada said, “He played an active role in the attack although he was aware that the sarin he (and other members) produced was highly toxic.”

The judge acknowledged that Nakagawa knew of Asahara’s murderous intentions and played a part in the Tokyo subway attack although he was not a party to meetings discussing the crime.

The justice also deemed that Nakagawa could be held responsible for the crimes, although his lawyers demanded a lenient ruling by saying Nakagawa was not in a position to judge his actions properly.

Okada said Nakagawa had committed the crimes to maintain his status in the cult although he knew what he did was illegal.

Prosecutors demanded the death sentence for Nakagawa, saying it would be the only choice considering more than 20 people died as a result of crimes he committed together with other cult members.

In relation to deadly crimes committed by AUM, prosecutors have demanded 14 members be sentenced to death. Of them, 10, including Nakagawa, have been sentenced to capital punishment at district courts.

The ruling on Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, will be held on Feb. 27 next year.

[dighton]

False Prophet: The Aum Cult of Terror

[Capt. Tom]

Former AUM Shinrikyo linchpin Tomomasa Nakagawa indicted on 11 charges, including those related to the deadly sarin gassing on the Tokyo subway system and the murder of a lawyer’s family, was sentenced to death on Wednesday.snip

In relation to deadly crimes committed by AUM, prosecutors have demanded 14 members be sentenced to death. Of them, 10, including Nakagawa, have been sentenced to capital punishment at district courts.snip

Japan must not be an Industrialized country because I have heard only the USA among the Industrialized countries has capital punishment. - Tom

[MetalHeadConservative35]

so how do they carry executions there?

electric chair? bheading? or feeding him to godzilla! lol

[dighton]

Hanging.

[Modernman]

electric chair? bheading? or feeding him to godzilla! lol

Godzilla only eats fish. Geez, get your monster physiology right. :-)

[MetalHeadConservative35]

Godzilla only eats fish. Geez, get your monster physiology right. :-)

::pouts:: sorry :) lol

[MetalHeadConservative35]

nice.

[Lurker]

Strangulation is the usual method, carried out by the Prosecutor.

L

[razorback-bert]

Cost also plays an important part in why Japan chooses hanging as its preferred method of execution.

"Because hanging is cheap and can be done almost anywhere, most people through history have used it as a method of execution," Meiji University professor Isa Tsujimoto says. "During the Edo Period (1603-1868), Japan employed such methods as burning at the stake, crucifixion and torture, but they were all banned in favor of hanging once the Meiji Era (that restored Imperial rule) began and it's stayed that way ever since."