Tokyo tube poisoning guru sentenced to death

Former doomsday cult leader Shoko Asahara was convicted and sentenced to death today for masterminding the 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo tube network and other murders.

The judge rejected his claims of innocence.

A conviction and death sentence were widely expected against Shoko Asahara, the nearly-blind, bearded cult leader who is charged with murdering a total of 27 people and ordering followers to produce chemical weapons including sarin nerve gas.

The verdict came after several hours of proceedings, but Judge Shoji Ogawa, in the morning session, outlined seven of the 13 counts against Asahara, rejecting the defence’s arguments in each one.

“The defendant plotted to spread sarin nerve gas across Tokyo, destroy the capital and build his own kingdom, and he ordered the construction of a sarin production plant,” Ogawa said.

There are no jury trials in Japan, and a four-judge panel led by Ogawa will decide Asahara’s fate, though he has the right to appeal.

Eleven of his followers have already been sentenced to death, but none has been executed yet.

Security was tight at Tokyo District Court to guard against disruptions by Asahara followers, and media reported that a decoy was used on the way to the court today to thwart any attempt to free the ex-guru.

Some 4,600 people turned out for a shot at the 38 courtroom seats available to the public – spectators were chosen by lottery.

Asahara did not speak in the morning session, although he grinned as he was brought into the courtroom, and made comic faces during the proceedings.

The former guru’s lawyers have argued in court that Asahara – whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto – had lost control over his Aum Shinrikyo cult by the time of the March 20, 1995, Tokyo attack, which killed 12 people and sickened thousands.

Many of his followers, however, have testified that they committed crimes under his orders and guidance.

Families of victims have spent years waiting for justice, though they say the trial’s outcome will provide only limited solace.

The Aum cult’s weapons programme was carried out by a coterie of highly-educated scientists from Japan’s best schools.

Asahara’s flock was bewitched by a mix of Hinduism, Buddhism and yoga that predicted an Armageddon that only cult members would survive.

The trial has taken nearly eight years, lengthened by Japan’s chronic shortage of lawyers and judges, the complexity of the case and a six-month delay caused by Asahara’s firing of his first lawyer.

Today’s session was the 257th of the trial.

Police say the cult’s remnants are showing signs of greater allegiance to Asahara. Agents this month raided the offices of the group, which still claims 1,650 members in Japan and 300 in Russia.