Posted on 09/15/2006 5:28:35 AM PDT by Republicain
TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's Supreme Court condemned to death Shoko Asahara, founder of the doomsday cult that attacked the Tokyo subway with nerve gas in 1995, throwing out his final appeal.
The bearded guru, who ordered Japan's worst ever terror attack which claimed 12 lives, was revered as a god by his sect, whose hardline followers are under constant surveillance.
Asahara's lawyers argued that the 51-year-old former acupuncturist was mentally unfit and only mumbled nonsense in meetings.
But Japan's top court refused a special motion by the defense seeking to resume his appeal trial, meaning Asahara could be hanged at any time.
Presiding justice Yukio Horigome said Friday: "Inability of communication between the defense counsel and the defendant cannot be a reason to justify the delay.
"A major reason why we reached this situation is that the defendant, on purpose, did not seek to have mutual understanding with the defense counsel."
The Public Security Intelligence Agency has voiced fears the finalization of Asahara's death sentence would unleash violence by supporters of the guru, but officials declined comment Friday on new safety measures.
Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, was convicted of ordering his Aum Supreme Truth sect to release sarin gas on rush-hour trains in March 1995, leaving 12 people dead and injuring thousands more.
In total, his crimes resulted in 27 deaths and several thousand injuries, many of them still suffering serious physical and psychological effects.
The guru was paranoid his enemies would use sarin against him and wanted to preempt authorities' raids on the cult.
Shizue Takahashi, whose husband, a subway worker, died in the attack, asked that Asahara be hanged quickly.
"I want to hear the news about his execution before I die," said Takahashi, 59. "If possible, I want to see it with my eyes."
"My three children and I lost a father and husband. There is no way we could fill the void," she said.
On average, an inmate with a confirmed death sentence waits seven years and six months before execution, according to Jiji Press.
Jinen Nagase, the deputy chief cabinet secretary, said the government supported the ruling.
"It took a long time because it was such an extreme case. I believe an appropriate judgment was handed out," he told reporters.
The sect changed its name in early 2000 to Aleph, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, deposed Asahara as its leader and apologized for past wrongdoing.
After the Supreme Court decision, the cult repeated its apology for its crimes, saying it was a mistake to deify its founder, and promised to continue reflecting on its past conduct.
Aum followers have divided into several factional groups, with some members justifying the sarin gas attacks, saying the acts cannot be explained in earthly terms.
Japanese courts have still not finalized the penalties on 12 other Aum members.
Japan is the only major industrialized nation other than the United States to practice capital punishment, which enjoys wide public support.
But Japan only executed one inmate last year and none so far this year. It has faced international criticism for giving inmates only a few hours notice before hanging them to ward off last-minute appeals.
Whackaloons.
Amazing - that another "civilized country" allows capital punishment. Those "civilized countries" that do not execute the worst offenders will soon find themselves composed of very uncivilized people.
Hah! Brilliant! Why don't we do that here? Hasn't the ACLU been bitching that the long march towards death is inhumane? Looks like our friends the Japanese have solved that problem!
Sounds like a good idea to me.
We'll see about that!
I had no idea that Japan had the death penalty.
Good riddance.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.