Court sentences Japanese cult member to death

Hayashi, in an undated photo, was sentenced to death for his role in the 1995 nerve gas attack on a Tokyo subway

June 29, 2000
Web posted at: 6:05 p.m. HKT (1005 GMT)

In this story: Hayashi faced several charges Cult still active RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

TOKYO -- A former senior member of Japan's Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult was sentenced Thursday to death by the Tokyo District Court for his role in the 1995 sarin gas attack on Tokyo's subway system.

Judge Kiyoshi Kimura said Yasuo Hayashi, 42, deserved the death penalty because he had released the largest amount of poisonous sarin gas during the attack. Twelve people died and thousands were injured in the attack.

	MESSAGE BOARD
Japan

"This morning I prayed that he would get the death penalty. I am satisfied," NHK quoted a parent of one of his victims as saying after hearing the ruling.

Prosecutors had said Hayashi, dubbed "murder machine" by Japan's media, had punctured three nylon bags filled with liquid sarin in a subway car -- killing eight people.

Hayashi's lawyers argued, however, that he did not know how dangerous the sarin gas was, and that he had only been following orders -- under the threat of death -- from cult leader, or guru, Shoko Asahara.

Hayashi had faced several charges -- including murder and attempted murder -- in connection with the subway incident, and a gas attack that killed seven people in a residential neighborhood in Matsumoto.

Hayashi is the second member of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, or Cult of the Supreme Truth, to be sentenced to death. The other, Masato Yokoyama, appealed his sentence. Hayashi's lawyers were also expected to file an appeal.

Asahara, the man accused of masterminding the subway attack, faces 16 additional charges. His trial is expected to take several years to complete. Asahara's real name is Chizuo Matsumoto.

Three other former members of the cult have also been charged in connection with the subway attack. One was sentenced in 1998 to life in prison, and the two others are to receive their sentences next month.

Hayashi had said that he believed he would receive the death sentence. "Whatever my motives may have been, I think I will get the death penalty," he told the court in February.

Hayashi went on the run after the subway attack. He lived in hideouts across Japan for about a year and a half before being arrested in one of the southern Okinawa islands. While a fugitive, he participated in another gas attack -- which failed -- at a busy Tokyo train station.

While most of Aum's leaders are behind bars, the cult remains active. Subsequently, the government has placed it under surveillance for three years. The move allows authorities to inspect all its sites.

The cult has changed its name and insists that it is now a benign religious group. In the past, Aum preached the world was coming to an end and that the cult must arm itself to prepare for various calamities.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Aum Shinrikyo: Once and Future Threat?
CIA World Factbook: Japan
Supreme Truth - the Japanese Cult

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.