Japan - Death cult leader convicted for 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on Tokyo subway

Kyodo News ^ | February 27, 2004

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AUM founder Asahara found guilty of all 13 charges

TOKYO, Feb. 27, Kyodo - (EDS: UPDATING WITH INCLUSION OF 1995 SARIN GAS ATTACK, LAWYERS' STATEMENT)

Shoko Asahara, the founder of the AUM Shinrikyo cult, is guilty of all 13 charges against him, including the 1995 sarin gassing on the Tokyo subway system, the Tokyo District Court ruled Friday.

The guilty verdicts handed down against the 48-year-old guru boost the likelihood of a death penalty since any one of the cases carries a death penalty.

Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, faced charges in 13 criminal cases that resulted in the death of 27 people.

Of the major crimes, Asahara was found guilty of ordering the murder of lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto and his family in November 1989. Sakamoto, who had been helping people with complaints against the cult, was murdered with his wife and 1-year-old son on Nov. 4, 1989.

He was also found guilty of ordering the sarin gas attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, on June 27, 1994, in which seven people were killed, as well as another sarin gas attack on March 20, 1995, on five trains on three subway lines, which killed 12 people and injured more than 5,500.

Apart from these crimes, Asahara also faces other charges, some of which he had already been found guilty of since the court opened its session from 9:59. The court went into a lunch break at 12:10 p.m. after pronouncing the verdicts on seven charges.

Asahara has been on trial for nearly eight years.

The day's session began with Presiding Judge Shoji Ogawa pronouncing Asahara guilty of ordering the murder of AUM follower Shuji Taguchi, 21, who had wanted to leave the cult. He was killed in early February 1989 at an AUM complex in Fujinomiya, Shizuoka Prefecture.

Regarding the Matsumoto incident, the court said Asahara ordered the attack in an attempt to murder a judge hearing an AUM-related case and with the intention of also murdering residents of the city, while it also ruled on the Sakamoto case that the testimonies pointing to Asahara as the mastermind are credible.

In a statement, a group of lawyers representing the Matsumoto victims said they found it offensive that they did not see any remorse shown by Asahara at all.

''(He) should own up to the crime and apologize to the bereaved relatives,'' they said.

Asahara is the last of 189 people charged in AUM-related crimes to be sentenced, and is likely to become the 12th to get the death penalty.

Reflecting deep public interest in the case, 4,658 people lined up for the 38 seats open to the public in the courtroom.

The prosecutors and Asahara's 12 state-appointed defense lawyers have clashed throughout the trial, which has dragged on for nearly eight years because of the complexity of the case and huge amount of testimony.

The focus of the trial in all 13 cases has been whether Asahara ordered his followers to commit the crimes.

On April 24, 2003, the prosecutors demanded the death penalty for Asahara, calling his actions the most heinous in Japanese criminal history and labeling him the mastermind behind all the crimes attributed to AUM.

In particular, the prosecutors described the 1995 gassing as an indiscriminate mass killing he ordered in an attempt to obstruct impending police investigations.

In their closing arguments on Oct. 30 and 31, the defense team laid the blame on Asahara's followers, claiming they acted without his instructions.

For most of the trial, which began April 24, 1996, Asahara has remained silent.

During the first hearing, he did not enter a plea, but a year later, he pleaded not guilty to all charges except one of attempted murder in a case involving a VX nerve gas attack.

Arguments in the trial, which the prosecutors sought to expedite by dropping four of 17 cases in October 2000, finally wrapped up last October after 256 hearings.

Following Asahara's arrest in May 1995, AUM tried to shed its crime-tainted image, and renamed itself Aleph in January 2000, but the cult is under surveillance by the Justice Ministry's Public Security Intelligence Agency.

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Update - Asahara sentenced to death by hanging.

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Japanese cult guru sentenced to death for 1995 attack on Tokyo subways

TOKYO - Former doomsday cult guru Shoko Asahara was convicted and sentenced to death for masterminding the deadly 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway and a string of other crimes that killed 27 people.

Asahara, who founded and led the Aum Shinrikyo cult, was also charged with ordering his followers to produce and stockpile arsenals of conventional and chemical weapons.

Asahara stood in silence as the verdict and sentence were read. It was not immediately clear if he would appeal.

The ruling was the climax of a nearly eight-year-long trial. His attorneys had argued that Asahara - whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto - had lost control over his flock by the time of the March 20, 1995, subway attack with sarin gas.

But former followers testified in court that Asahara planned and ordered the subway attack, which killed 12 people and sickened thousands, and other crimes.

Asahara was also accused of masterminding a sarin gas attack in June 1994 in the central Japan city of Matsumoto, the murder of anti-Aum lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto and his family, and the killings of wayward followers and people helping members leave the cult.

Asahara is the 12th person sentenced to death for the subway attack.

[Ronin]

Since he claims to have the ability to levitate at will, it would be interesting to watch.

Too bad Japan doesn't even announce executions ahead of time, let alone allow witnesses.

Since I was one of the passengers on Tokyo's subways that fatefull morning, and it could have easily been one of the people killed or injured, I would pay big money to see that guy go through the trapdoor.

[July 4th]

Fantastic. Thank you, Japan.

[GATOR NAVY]

Since he claims to have the ability to levitate at will, it would be interesting to watch.

So in the interest of poetic justice and just to be safe (in case he does levitate), I propose they gas him.

[Elliott Jackalope]

Better yet, give him a last meal of badly cooked pinto beans and lots of cheap beer, then lock him in a small, airtight chamber and let him gas himself to death.

[HAL9000]

Or perhaps simultaneous electrocution-firing-squad-lethal-injection-hanging-with-gas.

[MCFujiTanker]

I used to take the Hibiya line all of the time back then, switching to it at Naka Meguro from the Toyoko Line out of Yokohama, to end up at the New Sanno or Kamiyacho (AMEMB), when I was stationed at Yokosuka. I'm in Guam now. I've been to Matsumoto castle twice. I'd like to see them interview the poor schmuck the police blamed for the Matsumoto gas attack. The cops there initially blamed some guy who had a bunch of industrial bug spray at his house. He wasn't cleared until after the Sarin Gas Subway Attack. I went TAD to JA Nov and Jan and will be back in Mar. I NEVER sleep on the trains there anymore. ASAHARA deserves to hang!!

[MCFujiTanker]

I used to take the Hibiya line all of the time back then, switching to it at Naka Meguro from the Toyoko Line out of Yokohama, to end up at the New Sanno or Kamiyacho (AMEMB), when I was stationed at Yokosuka. I'm in Guam now. I've been to Matsumoto castle twice. I'd like to see them interview the poor schmuck the police blamed for the Matsumoto gas attack. The cops there initially blamed some guy who had a bunch of industrial bug spray at his house. He wasn't cleared until after the Sarin Gas Subway Attack. I went TAD to JA Nov and Jan and will be back in Mar. I NEVER sleep on the trains there anymore. ASAHARA deserves to hang!!

[GATOR NAVY]

Long time no see. How you been?

[Choose Ye This Day]

EIGHT YEARS?!!?

What the--???

This guy should've been dangling from a rope at least 7 years ago.

[ragnarocker]

I took JR and Tobo Tojo that day. One of my co-workers wife got hit as she was on the same train.

Can't believe there is anyone in Tokyo District Court with any guts.

[MEG33]

Evil exists.This man is evil.Hanging can't come soon enough for me.

[AngrySpud]

" ... AUM tried to shed it's crime-tainted image."

Here in the US you'll probably recall the Bhagwan cult in eastern Oregon that contaminated multiple restaurants' salad bars with salmonella in an attempt to control the results of a local election. After leaders went to prison and the cult broke apart, some came to Sedona, Arizona and opened a series of successful "new Age-style" businesses ... including restaurants.

[Ronin]

During those days, I was attending Japanese Language classes at Tokyo Nihongo Center, which is located directly across the street from Tokyo Tower -- so naturally I was getting off at Kamiyacho Station in the early morning hours on a daily basis.

It was sheer dumb luck that I was not on one of those trains as I would change trains at Kasumigaseki as well.

Two of the students from my school were among the victims hospitalized. Neither died, both were Taiwanese, and both were paid off handsomely and shipped out of the country as fast as possible.

[Glenn]

Amazing. It only took 9 years to convict him. Such efficiency.

[sushiman]

I was living in Tokyo at the time of the sarin subway attack . As usual , most people went into panic mode after it happened . I vividly recall an incident on a bullet train from Osaka to Tokyo . There was no space over our seats to put our luggage so we tried to put it overhead across the aisle from us but the old dude sitting there with is wife complained saying " for all I know there might be poison gas in these bags so please put them somewhere else " ! I blew a gasket . We ended up having to put them elsewhere in the car .

[presidio9]

Amazing. It only took 9 years to convict him. Such efficiency.

Don't laugh. Our schedule for dealing with the 1993 WTC bombers wasn't much better.

[theDentist]

And their appeal process is much longer than ours...