Death sentence for Japan cult guru
(mainichi.co)
Updated: 2004-02-27 14:51

Shoko Asahara, the founder of the AUM Shinrikyo cult accused of murder and a host of other serious crimes that claimed the lives of 27 victims was sentenced to death in the Tokyo District Court on Friday.

Before handing down the sentence, Presiding Judge Shoji Ogawa began by reading the reason for the ruling. The court acknowledged Asahara's guilt in the 1989 murder of anti-AUM lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto, and the 1994 sarin gas attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, and the sarin gas attacks on Tokyo subway trains in 1995.

The death sentence on Asahara, which comes seven years and 10 months since the opening trial, was delivered at around 3:15 p.m.

During morning proceedings in the hearing, Ogawa accepted that in the murder of Sakamoto, Asahara had thought the lawyer would be a hindrance to the cult and ordered AUM executives to kill him and his family, saying there was "no other option" but to do so.

Shoko Asahara was sentenced to death in the Tokyo District Court Friday, Feb. 27, 2004. He will be able to file an appeal.  [AFP/File]

The judge also recognized that Asahara masterminded the two sarin gas attacks and all the other crimes for which he is under indictment.

"He planned to destroy the capital and in order to confirm the killing ability of sarin, he ordered it to be sprayed about to kill a judge and others," Ogawa said.

The court also found Asahara guilty of killing an AUM follower and attempting to murder Taro Takimoto, a lawyer helping people who had left the cult.

In their concluding remarks during the trial, prosecutors said that Asahara was "the most atrocious criminal in this country's history of crime," and that because he had tried to shift the blame for AUM's crimes on his followers, there could be no other penalty for him but death.

Throughout his trials, Asahara continually ignored questions from lawyers and mumbled in an inaudible voice, making communication impossible.

Several members of the AUM Shinrikyo cult, which is now calling itself Aleph, have already received death sentences and prison terms.

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