Society

All court action for ex-Aum cult members finished

Jan 20 (NHK) - All court action for former members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult is to end, after the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by a man who took part in the 1995 deadly nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.

Katsuya Takahashi's life sentence is to be finalized following the court's decision.

Takahashi was arrested after 17 years on the run. He was indicted for murder and other charges in 4 cases, including the subway attack that killed 13 people.

He contested all the charges, but a district and a high court condemned him to a life sentence.

His appeal was the last among 192 former members of Aum Shinrikyo who faced criminal charges.

Cult leader Shoko Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, and 12 others have been sentenced to death.

Matsumoto pleaded not guilty, and stopped speaking during his trial at district court, which sentenced him to death.

The sentence was finalized when a high court terminated his challenge after his defense team failed to submit papers required for an appeal.

None of the death-row inmates has been executed because they had to testify at the trials of other members.

Now that all the court action is finished, attention is focused on when the sentences will be carried out.

Source: ANNnewsCH

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