|
Home>News Center>World | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Japan cult guru faces death penalty for sarin attack A Tokyo court on Friday is expected to hand down the death penalty to the former leader of a Japanese cult accused of masterminding a 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway that killed 12 people and made thousands ill. Shoko Asahara, 48, the former guru of the Aum Shinri Kyo (Supreme Truth Sect), also faces 12 other charges including murder and has been called the "most heinous criminal" by prosecutors, who have demanded death by hanging. The subway attack was carried out by cult members who unleashed sarin nerve gas in rush-hour trains. The sight of bodies lying across platforms and soldiers in gas masks sealing off subway stations shocked the Japanese public, accustomed to crime-free streets, and shattered their belief that their country was one of the safest in the world. The ruling at the Tokyo District Court will conclude an eight year-long trial, but Asahara's lawyers are expected to appeal the verdict all the way to the Supreme Court, kicking off another lengthy legal process that could last another decade. Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, pleaded not guilty but has never testified and has only made confusing remarks in the courtroom, including babbling English words. But many of the cult members convicted of carrying out the attack have told the courts they did so on Asahara's orders. Asahara set up the cult in 1987, mixing Buddhist and Hindu meditation with apocalyptic teachings to attract, at its peak, at least 10,000 members in Japan, including graduates of some of the nation's elite universities, and more overseas. ARMAGEDDON PREDICTED The nearly blind guru, with a beard down to his chest, predicted that the United States would attack Japan and turn it into a nuclear wasteland. He also claimed to have travelled to the year 2006 and talked to people then about what World War Three had been like. The group took a shot at politics, but Asahara and other members who ran for office in a 1990 national election all fared miserably and failed to win any parliamentary seats. Analysts have speculated that Asahara, who came from a large, poor family and graduated from a high school for the blind, grew angry at society after the defeat and led the cult down a murderous path. After the elections, Aum set up a huge commune-like complex at the foot of Mount Fuji, where members not only studied his mystical teachings and practiced bizarre rituals, but also made weapons including the sarin gas used in the subway attack. Some speculate that the attack may have been staged to prove to Aum members the cult's apocalyptic preachings, while others say the gassing was aimed at thwarting a police raid on the cult, which was already suspected of involvement in other murders. The attack prompted the police and military to beef up their capability to deal with chemical and biological attacks. Aum, which in 1999 admitted involvement in the gassing, changed its name in 2000 to Aleph, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and says the group is now benign. Japanese authorities say it is still a threat and keep its 1,600 or so members under strict surveillance. Another 300 Aum members still exist in Russia, where the group was once active. |
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
