Aleph Web site is located at http://english.aleph.to
2007-2005
- October 11, 2007 Aum bankruptcy to wrap up in March, Kyodo News via The Japan Times
VICTIMS STILL SEEKING COMPENSATION
The bankruptcy proceedings for doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo are now scheduled to conclude in March, which will allow the bankruptcy administrator to find ways to compensate victims of Aum's deadly crimes.
At the 15th meeting of victims' representatives and other creditors held Wednesday at the Tokyo District Court, bankruptcy administrator Saburo Abe proposed closing the procedures on March 31, a dozen years after the cult was declared insolvent in 1996...
- June 1, 2007 Condemned Aum sarin maker loses first appeal, The Japan Times
The Tokyo High Court on Thursday upheld the death sentence of an Aum Shinrikyo chemist who produced the sarin used in two of the cult's deadly nerve gas attacks.
In upholding the lower court verdict, presiding Judge Osamu Ikeda condemned Seiichi Endo, 46, for utilizing his virology expertise to create the nerve agent used in the terrorist attacks, including the 1995 attack on the Tokyo subway system that shocked the nation...
- May 23, 2007 Japanese filmmaker Kei Kumai dies at 76, Reuters
TOKYO (Hollywood Reporter) - Award-winning Japanese director Kei Kumai died Wednesday morning in Tokyo at the age of 76..
...Born in Nagano prefecture, in northern Japan, Kumai began his filmmaking career in 1954 by joining production company Nikkatsu Corp...
...2001's documentary-style "Darkness in the Light," which was critical of the police and media in their coverage of a man wrongly accused of releasing sarin gas in Nagano in 1994. That attack eventually was found to be the work of the Aum Shinrikyo cult...
- May 9, 2007 Leader of splinter group vows break with teachings of Japanese doomsday cult, AP via Mainichi Daily News
The leader of a group that split off from the doomsday cult behind the deadly 1995 Tokyo subway gassing declared Wednesday that his group no longer follows the teachings of his jailed former guru...
- April 20, 2007 Making Sense of Senseless Acts, by Cynthia Crossen, The Wall Street Journal
In 'Underground,' Murakami Chronicles 1995 Poison Gas Attacks on Tokyo Subway
...Why did the Tokyo terrorists, most of them well-educated young people from affluent families, think they should kill and maim strangers?...
...But according to a member of Aum who did agree to an interview...giving up all ties to the outside world -- "your sense of self steadily deteriorates. Things are forced on you from above, and you're continually attacked for not accepting the status quo, and inevitably your spirit is broken."...
- March 5, 2007 AUM Shinrikyo leader Joyu informs security agency that he is leaving cult, MSN-Mainichi Daily News, Japan
AUM Shinrikyo leader Fumihiro Joyu visited the Public Security Intelligence Agency on Monday to notify it of his decision to break away from the cult along with followers loyal to him, sources close to the agency said...
- September 27, 2006 Aum leader's trial finally ends, Editorial, The Japan Times
The long trial of Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara ended Sept. 15 when the Supreme Court rejected a special appeal by lawyers for Asahara. The top court's decision affirmed the February 2004 ruling of the Tokyo District Court, which found the cult leader guilty of 13 criminal counts, the most serious being the sarin gas poisoning on March 20, 1995, of a Tokyo subway that killed 12 people and seriously injured 14 others. Now the death sentence handed down to the mastermind behind that deadly nerve-gas attack has been finalized...
...A total of 27 people died and 4,000 to 5,000 others were injured as a result of Asahara's 13 crimes. Besides the Tokyo sarin-gas attack, he is responsible for killing seven people and injuring four others in a sarin-gas attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, on June 27, 1994, and for killing a Yokohama lawyer and his wife and son on Nov. 4, 1989....
...lengthy trial, which lasted 10 years and five months...
- September 16, 2006 Sarin gas victims greet execution news with relief, sadness - The Japan Times
The news that Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara would be executed, was met Friday with relief and sadness from victims of the sarin gas attacks and their families Friday.
They were glad to hear that the Supreme Court had rejected an appeal from Asahara's lawyers, but said their hardships will still continue...
...The attack killed 12 people and injured more than 5,500...
...Aum, which has renamed itself Aleph, released a statement saying the group will continue its efforts to compensate the victims...
- August 18, 2006 Japan cult death sentence upheld, BBC News
A court has upheld the death sentence for a Japanese chemist who oversaw the development of nerve gas used in a 1995 attack on the Tokyo subway.
Masami Tsuchiya, 41, was sentenced to death in January 2004 for his role in the attacks, which killed 12 people...
...Tsuchiya was also convicted of producing sarin gas for a July 1994 attack on a residential area in the central city of Matsumoto, which killed seven people and injured 144 others...
- April 2, 2006 Cult Leader Should Not Be Executed, Daughters Say - by Bruce Wallace, Times Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times, California
They say their father, who ordered a gas attack in a subway, is mentally ill. Shunned by Japanese society, the sisters say no one believes them...
...On death row, Shoko Asahara isn't talking to anyone...
...Asahara, 50, has been sentenced to death...
...The Aum cult was declared illegal in the wake of the gas attack, but has been reconstituted as a legal group called Aleph...
- March 31, 2006 Asahara lawyers protest appeal snub, by MAYUMI NEGISHI, Staff writer, The Japan Times
Lawyers for Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara lodged a public protest Thursday over Tokyo High Court Judge Masaru Suda's decision to throw out their appeal of the guru's death sentence...
...The appeal dismissal increased the likelihood that Asahara's death sentence will stand without further trial...
...If the high court invalidates the dismissal, Asahara's appellate trial will begin.
- March 27, 2006 Japanese Court Denies Cult Leader's Appeal, Associated Press via Washington Post
TOKYO -- A Japanese court rejected a former cult leader's appeal of his death sentence for the 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subways and other killings, Japanese media reported Monday.
Tokyo's High Court threw out the appeal by Shoko Asahara, former guru of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, because his lawyers failed to file papers on time, national broadcaster NHK said...
...The cult, which has regrouped and is now named Aleph, has about 6,500 members and is under surveillance by Japan's Public Safety Agency.
- March 27, 2006 Japan Aum leader appeal rejected, BBC News (Photo of Shoko Asahara included.)
The cult leader behind a fatal gas attack on the Tokyo underground in 1995 has had an appeal against his death sentence rejected by a court in Japan...
...Asahara, the former head of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, was found guilty of organising the sarin gas attacks in 1995 in which 12 people died and about 5,500 were injured.
He was sentenced to death by a Japanese court in February 2004.
The 50-year-old was also found guilty of other charges including plotting a 1994 gas attack in the central Japanese city of Matsumoto that killed seven people...
- March 20, 2006 Today in History - March 20, Associated Press via sfgate.com
In 1995, in Tokyo, 12 people were killed, more than 5,500 others sickened when packages containing the poisonous gas sarin were leaked on five separate subway trains by Aum Shinrikyo cult members.
- February 25, 2006 Prosecutors want Asahara appeal dismissed over deadline, The Japan Times
Prosecutors asked the Tokyo High Court on Friday to turn down an appeal filed by the counsel for Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara against the death sentence he was handed two years ago for 13 criminal counts, including the 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system....
- February 21, 2006 Asahara declared mentally fit, The Japan Times
Guru can still communicate, court-appointed psychiatrist says
Condemned Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara is mentally competent to stand trial in his appeal, according to an expert's report submitted Monday to the Tokyo High Court, contradicting his lawyers' claim that the incoherent guru's mental state is abnormal...
...The high court is expected to reach a decision on Asahara's competency soon...
...At its height, Aum claimed 10,000 followers in Japan and another 30,000 in Russia. The cult has since renamed itself Aleph, and the Justice Ministry last month extended an order to keep it under close surveillance.
- February 21, 2006 Asahara's daughter beats school in court, The Japan Times
The Tokyo District Court on Monday ordered the operator of Wako University to pay 300,000 yen in damages to a daughter of Shoko Asahara, founder of Aum Shinrikyo, for illegally denying her entry after she passed the school's entrance exam...
2005
- November 26, 2005 Asahara still has pull: agency - The Japan Times
Aum surveillance extension sought as guru awaits fate
The Public Security Intelligence Agency filed a request Friday with the Public Security Examination Commission to keep Aum Shinrikyo under surveillance for another three years.
The agency, which is under the Justice Ministry, claimed it believes Shoko Asahara, the cult's founder convicted of masterminding the cult's 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, still wields influence over the sect..
...The commission will decide by mid-January whether to extend the surveillance after hearing from Aum, which has renamed itself Aleph, and examining the agency's request for the extension...
...There are about 1,650 Aum members in Japan and about 300 followers in Russia, according to the agency...
- November 2, 2005 Legal revision to speed hand of justice, By MASAMI ITO, Staff writer, The Japan Times
Japan has long been notorious for extremely drawn out trials that seem to take forever to reach a verdict.
Legal proceedings in serious criminal cases can drag on for years. In the two Aum Shinrikyo sarin gas attacks of 1994 and 1995, for example, only one of the 13 death sentences handed down by the courts has been finalized so far...
- August 21, 2005 Aum takes in 30 million yen with summer seminar series, The Japan Times
The Aum Shinrikyo cult, which perpetrated the deadly sarin attack on the Tokyo subway system in 1995, has earned about 30 million yen this summer by holding intensive seminars attended by about 300 members, police sources said Saturday.
The police believe the doomsday cult, which has renamed itself Aleph...
- August 21, 2005 Japan's trial of the century for doomsday cult guru at crossroads, AFP via Channel News Asia, Singapore
TOKYO: ...A court ordered Shoko Asahara to undergo psychiatric tests for the first time since the 50-year-old former acupuncturist was arrested in 1995 at a commune near Mount Fuji...
...allegedly ordered the Aum cult to release Nazi-invented sarin gas on rush-hour trains on March 20, 1995, killing 12 people and injuring thousands.
He was sentenced to hang in February last year in Japan's most closely watched trial...
- August 20, 2005 Death row cultist to get mental evaluation, Mainichi Daily News, Japan
The Tokyo High Court is set to conduct a psychiatric evaluation of AUM Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara who has appealed a lower court ruling that sentenced him to death for masterminding crimes including subway gassing, his defense lawyers said...
...Asahara and 12 other members of the cult have been sentenced to death for the subway gassing and other crimes. On March 20, 1995, five members of AUM Shinrikyo released sarin nerve gas on subway trains in downtown Tokyo, killing 12 people and sickening thousands of others.
The cult also released sarin in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, in 1994 and murdered anti-AUM lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto, his wife and their infant son in 1989.
- April 7, 2005 Top court dismisses AUM member's appeal against death sentence, Mainichi Daily News, Japan (Photo of Kazuaki Okazaki included.)
The Supreme Court on Thursday turned down an appeal by a former AUM Shinrikyo cult member, finalizing his death sentence for murdering a lawyer's family and a fellow cult member.
The top court said Kazuaki Okazaki, 44, committed "anti-social, cruel crimes" in murdering the family of a lawyer who acted legitimately...
...AUM Shinrikyo was founded by Shoko Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto. AUM now calls itself Aleph.
- March 21, 2005 Tokyo subway attack's 10th anniversary marked, The Japan Times
...subway workers and victims offering prayers and flowers in one of the sarin-hit stations.
As is customary, a moment of silence was observed at Kasumigaseki Station at 8 a.m. -- about the time top members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, now known as Aleph, released sarin on five trains on three central subway lines on March 20, 1995.
The attack killed 12 people and sickened more than 5,500...
...Aleph renewed its apology to the victims and resolve to continue compensating them...
- March 19, 2005 Survivors of subway sarin gas attacks, 9-11 supporters gather in Tokyo - Kyodo News via Japan Today
TOKYO � Victims of the deadly sarin nerve gas attacks on the Tokyo subway system urged the government Saturday to provide them with more substantial and lasting aid amid a number of people still reeling from physical, psychological and economic repercussions, taking from the experience of victims of the Sept 11 attacks...
...Under an agreement on bankruptcy procedure filed between Aum Shinrikyo and the victims, Aum Shinrikyo must pay about 2.8 billion yen in compensation for the Tokyo gas attack and another gassing incident that took place in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, in 1994, until June this year.
But currently, only 30% of the amount has been allotted because Aum is apparently hard up, said Kaneichi Ono, proxy bankruptcy administrator...
- March 18, 2005 Japan vows tight watch on doomsday cult 10 years after subway attack, AFP via Channel News Asia, Singapore
TOKYO : Japan will keep a tight watch on the Aum Supreme Truth doomsday cult so it never again causes terror as it did 10 years ago in a deadly nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway, the justice minister said...
...The cult spread Nazi-invented sarin gas on the Tokyo subway at rush hour on March 20, 1995, killing 12 people and injuring 5,500. It believed the world was on the verge of cataclysmic war and wanted to pre-empt a police raid...
- March 18, 2005 Asahara has brain disorder: doctor - The Japan Times
A doctor who visited Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara last autumn said Thursday it is highly likely that the guru is suffering an organic brain disease.
Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, was sentenced to death on Feb. 27, 2004, for his role in 13 criminal cases, including a sarin attack on the Tokyo subway system that resulted in the deaths of 12 people. His defense team has appealed the ruling...
- March 18, 2005 How do you feel about religions and cults 10 years after the Aum sarin gas attacks on Tokyo's subways?, Japan Today
- March 14, 2005 Victims still awaiting compensation after 1995 gas attack, By May Masangkay, Kyodo News, Japan
...Even 10 years after the AUM Shinrikyo sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, the government continues to move at a snail's pace in providing much-needed monetary aid and medical and psychological care to several thousands of victims of the March 20, 1995 attack...
- March 10, 2005 1995 sarin gas survivors to take part in memorial walk, Japan Today (TOKYO � Nearly 50 survivors of the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system will take part in a memorial walk on March 19, one day before the 10th anniversary of the deadly attack carried out by the Aum Shinrikyo cult, a support group said Wednesday...)
- January 8, 2005 Asahara's appeal-filing delay OK'd, The Japan Times (The Tokyo High Court told Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara's counsel Friday that it will extend the deadline for submission of documents needed to begin the guru's appeal trial, the lawyers said.
Asahara, 49, was sentenced to death in February by the Tokyo District Court in connection with 13 cases, including the deadly 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system and another killer nerve gas attack the previous year.
The submission deadline has been extended to late August from Tuesday...)
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Aum in the News
Photo - Shoko Asahara - BBC News
Video:Tokyo gas attack March 20, 1995:CNN
TIME Magazine Cover: Shoko Asahara - 1995
Video:Aum's lingering legacy February 26, 2004, BBC
Chronology of Aum developments, The Japan Times
- 1995-2000
- 2001-2002
- 2004
- 2003
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