All Aum Doomsday Cult Members Executed in Japan

Sputnik News

06:02 26.07.2018(updated 06:18 26.07.2018)

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Six more members of Japan's notorious doomsday cult behind a deadly nerve agent attack in a Tokyo subway have been executed, local media reported Thursday.

The NHK public broadcaster cited its sources as saying they are Yasuo Hayashi, Kazuaki Okazaki, Masato Yokoyama, Satoru Hashimoto, Toru Toyoda and Kenichi Hirose.

Japanese Minister of Justice Yōko Kamikawa confirmed later that the six cult members had been executed.

"The death penalty against six people was carried out today," she said. "Many lives were taken, may people were crippled. The fear, suffering and pain of those injured and of the bereaved families is unimaginable."

A total of 13 Aum Shinrikyo* members were on death row. Its leader and six of his ranking followers were hanged in early July.

The 1995 sarin attack left 13 commuters dead and thousands more injured. A court in Tokyo identified cult leader Chizuo Matsumoto as its mastermind in 2004 and passed the death sentence in 2006. Almost 200 people were also indicted. His execution was put off until the end of the legal process.

*Banned in Russia

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