Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 15, 2006 10:31:30 GMT -5
Japan court sets cult guru death penalty
Fri Sep 15, 2006 8:14 AM BST
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Supreme Court rejected an appeal against the death sentence for the former leader of a doomsday cult on Friday, clearing the way for him to be hanged for masterminding a 1995 subway gas attack, Japanese media said.
Lawyers for Shoko Asahara, 51, had argued that the former leader of Aum Shinri Kyo was mentally incompetent.
Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, was found guilty in the gassing on Tokyo rush-hour trains that killed 12 and sickened thousands, and was sentenced to death by a Tokyo court in February 2004.
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© Reuters 2006.
Fri Sep 15, 2006 8:14 AM BST
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Supreme Court rejected an appeal against the death sentence for the former leader of a doomsday cult on Friday, clearing the way for him to be hanged for masterminding a 1995 subway gas attack, Japanese media said.
Lawyers for Shoko Asahara, 51, had argued that the former leader of Aum Shinri Kyo was mentally incompetent.
Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, was found guilty in the gassing on Tokyo rush-hour trains that killed 12 and sickened thousands, and was sentenced to death by a Tokyo court in February 2004.
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© Reuters 2006.