Hayashi, 45, has been convicted of crimes that include murder and attempted murder in the March 1995 attack on the Tokyo subway system, the June 1994 sarin gas attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, and the May 1995 cyanide gas attempt at Shinjuku...

...Five cultists dispersed the gas in the subway. Four, including Hayashi, have been sentenced to death, and all four have appealed their sentences. The remaining cult member, former Aum doctor Ikuo Hayashi, received a life term because his swift confession and cooperation greatly contributed to Asahara's arrest...)

The cases over which Nakagawa was charged include the sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway and in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture.

Nakagawa, who was found guilty by the Tokyo District Court of all charges in the 11 criminal cases over which he stood trial, became the 10th person to receive the death penalty in connection with the cult's crimes...) (Photo of Tomomasa Nakagawa included.)

Tomomasa Nakagawa, 41, was accused of helping to make the sarin gas, which killed 12 people and left thousands ill, and participating in other crimes led by the cult between 1989 and 1995.

His sentencing came a day before the start of a defence plea for the cult's former leader, Shoko Asahara, who also faces the death penalty...)

If convicted, Asahara could be hanged. But lawyer Osamu Watanabe says he would appeal if a death sentence is handed down, and that could add additional years before the case is concluded...)

Prosecutors had demanded the death penalty for Noboru Nakamura, 36...

...The district court ruled that Nakamura conspired with Aum founder Shoko Asahara to release the nerve gas in Matsumoto in June 1994. The attack killed seven people and injured scores of others...)

Presiding Judge Atsushi Semba affirmed the Tokyo District Court's sentence, handed down in 2000, on Satoru Hashimoto, 36, finding him guilty of killing Yokohama lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto, 33, his wife, Satoko, 29, and their 1-year-old son, Tatsuhiko, in November 1989...) (Photo of Satoru Hashimoto included.)

On Tuesday, Metropolitan Kiril met with the chief priests of the six largest Japanese churches. The Japanese delegation expressed regret that members of the Aum Shinrikyo sect, who organized a terrorist attack in Tokyo eight years ago, continue to influence the spiritual health of Russian citizens...)

It has been nearly eight years since Tsuchiya's trial began and he is the last of 192 defendants in cases related to the cult to have a sentence sought by prosecutors...

...Aum, which renamed itself Aleph in January 2000, was placed under extended surveillance in January when the Public Security Examination Commission decided the Public Security Investigation Agency could monitor it for another three years, saying the cult is still capable of committing mass murder.)

The request for capital punishment comes as no surprise. Matsumoto, the 48-year-old founder of Aum Shinrikyo, stands accused of murder and other felonies in 13 cases, including the sarin nerve gas attacks in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, in 1994 and in a Tokyo subway in 1995. In all, 27 people were killed and more than 4,000 injured. Many of the survivors continue to suffer various aftereffects...)

Mr Asahara - the founder of the Aum Shinrikyo, or Supreme Truth, movement - stands accused of a series of crimes which shocked Japan...) (Photo of Shoko Asahara/Chizuo Matsumoto included.)

The trial of Shoko Asahara, leader of Aum Shrini Kyo (Supreme Truth Sect) has been the biggest in Japan's post-World War II history and has lasted seven years already...) (Photos included.)

...The prosecution is scheduled to give its closing arguments -- and formally request the death penalty for cult guru Shoko Asahara -- at Tokyo District Court on Thursday...

...Along with the March 20, 1995, nerve gas attack, which left 12 dead and sickened thousands, Asahara is also charged with ordering a series of other killings, assaults and kidnappings...)

During the day's session at the Tokyo District Court, two victims of the cult's sarin gas attacks and the relative of another addressed the court. Five others submitted written statements...

...Also Thursday, current leaders of Aum, which now calls itself Aleph, submitted to the district court a request to cancel the continuing surveillance of the cult by the Public Security Investigation Agency...)

At 8 a.m., about the time that members of the cult released the nerve gas in subway cars March 20, 1995, 23 employees at Kasumigaseki Station on the Hibiya Line observed a moment of silence at a signal given by station official Hisashi Aoyagi...

...Hiroshi Araki, head of public relations at Aum, which renamed itself Aleph in January 2000, also laid flowers at the station...)

At Kasumigaseki Station, subway staff observed a moment of silence at 8 a.m., the same time the nerve gas was released inside subway cars, eight years ago, on March 20.

Twelve people were killed and more than 5,000 others were injured in the terrorist attack...

...Hiroshi Araki, Aum's public relations head, made an appearance around 10 a.m. to lay flowers for the victims. The cult renamed itself Aleph in January 2000...)

...Matsumoto, also known as Shoko Asahara, faces 27 murder counts in 13 separate indictments, including the March 20, 1995, sarin attack on the Tokyo subway system that left 12 people dead and thousands sickened...

...Matsumoto last spoke in his own defense in January 1998 when he maintained his innocence in the cases against him...

...If he doesn't, the court will probably cut off the defense presentation and allow prosecutors to make their final arguments April 24, when they announce the punishment they are seeking...)

Toshiyasu Ouchi, the 50-year-old former head of the cult's Russian branch...)