JIADEP NOTE: Shoko Asahara was the former leader of the Aum Shinrikyo Cult which released poisonous gas on Tokyo subways, and committed other atrocious murders. His real name is Chizuo Matsumoto. Analyzed by psyciatrists as "mentally incompetent" to stand trial, he was nonetheless executed on July 6, 2018. His descendants have filed suit charging the execution was illegal.
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Execution was illegal!
Family of former death row inmate files suit.
March 8, 2022
(Translation and Commentary by JIADEP)
The family of former death row inmate, Chizuo Matsumoto (a.k.a Shoko Asahara), have filed a suit in Tokyo district court, charging that he was psychologically incompetent and that the execution was therfore illegal. They are seeking one million yen ($90,000) in compensation.
At the start of the trial, Matsumoto who was legally blind, shouted some inanities during his first hearing, but remained silent throughout both the district and higher court trials. He refused to communicate with attorneys.
The execution was carried out in July 6, 2018. The Code of Criminal Procedure forbids execution of the mentally disabled. They insist that the the minister of justice at the time, “ignored the legal responsibility of reviewing the extensive psychiatric reports, and ordered the execution haphazardly.
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「死刑執行は違法」 松本智津夫元死刑囚の遺族、国を提訴
心神喪失の状態だったのに死刑を執行されたのは違法だとして、オウム真理教元代表の松本智津夫（麻原彰晃）元死刑囚の遺族が国に100万円の賠償を求める訴訟を東京地裁に起こした。
死刑執行は2018年7月。遺族側は訴状で、刑事訴訟法は死刑囚が心神喪失の状態の場合は刑の執行を停止すると定めていると指摘。当時の法務大臣の対応について「元死刑囚の診療記録を調査し精神鑑定を行うなどの義務を怠り、漫然と執行命令を発令した」と訴えている。（村上友里）
Japan: Justice Ministry frustrated by delays in executing Aum Shinrikyo founder
Posted: 31 Jul 2013
Justice Ministry officials are growing increasingly irritated over moves that have delayed the execution of a man held responsible for 27 murders and fears that gripped the nation in the 1990s.
Defense lawyers have filed yet another appeal for a retrial of Chizuo Matsumoto, the founder of the Aum Shinrikyo cult that spread nerve gas in public and killed its opponents during its reign of terror.
Matsumoto, 58, the blind and bearded guru who went by the name of Shoko Asahara when he led the doomsday cult, was sentenced to death by the Tokyo District Court in February 2004.;;;
He was convicted of masterminding more than 10 crimes that killed a total of 27 people, including 12 in the sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system in March 1995 and eight in a sarin attack on a residential area in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, in June 1994.
3 victims--an anti-Aum lawyer, his wife and their child--were murdered in November 1989.
The Supreme Court finalized Matsumoto's death sentence in September 2006.
A senior ministry official said the public is demanding justice, given the high death toll from Aum's crimes that were ordered by Matsumoto.
"The people will not support his escape from the death penalty," the official said. "As long as the (capital punishment) system exists, the execution of his death sentence is unavoidable 'homework.'"
Matsumoto's defense team submitted its 1st appeal for a retrial in November 2008. 4 days after that appeal was rejected in September 2010, the defense team submitted a 2nd appeal.
On May 8 this year, the Supreme Court rejected the 2nd appeal, saying there is no reason to start a retrial. The next day, the defense submitted its 3rd appeal for a retrial to the Tokyo District Court.
Under the Criminal Procedure Law, courts can grant retrials under certain circumstances, including the discovery of new evidence.
However, Justice Ministry officials say Matsumoto's lawyers are simply nitpicking at the procedures in his trial to prevent him from being sent to the gallows.
The ministry official emphasized that executions are possible even after the defense applies for a retrial.
"In the case of a death-row inmate repeatedly submitting appeals that have little substance, we can carry out the death sentence," the official said.
In 1999, a death-row inmate was executed even though a court was examining his seventh appeal for a retrial.
However, the Justice Ministry customarily does not execute criminals during their appeals for retrials. It has shown more caution since the 1980s, when 4 death-row inmates were acquitted after their retrials were granted.
Another custom in the ministry is to refrain from executing prisoners when the trials of their accomplices are continuing because the death-row inmate could be summoned to testify.
The trials of 3 former Aum members, including Katsuya Takahashi, 55, who was arrested and indicted on murder charges in 2012 after years on the run, have yet to start.
"If it is decided that Matsumoto's testimony is unnecessary in the trials for the 3, there will be no obstacle in executing him even if a court is examining his appeal for a retrial," the ministry official said.
However, some legal experts are calling on the ministry to show restraint during the appeal process.
"Under the current system, the only way to oppose a ruling after a death sentence is finalized is to appeal for a retrial," said Shinichi Ishizuka, a professor of criminal law and procedure at Ryukoku University's Graduate School of Law.
Ishizuka also said Matsumoto's defense team is simply doing its job.
"The defense lawyers' biggest mission is to protect the rights of death-row inmates," the professor said. "What the defense team (for Matsumoto) is doing is a legitimate act."
One other issue concerning Matsumoto's death sentence is his mental health.
The Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that executions must be suspended for "insane" inmates who cannot understand the meaning of their death sentences.
Defense lawyers say Matsumoto falls under this category.
Matsumoto last appeared in public when the Tokyo District Court handed down its ruling in February 2004.
During his trial, he wore diapers, muttered to himself and sometimes burst out laughing for no apparent reason.
One source said of Matsumoto: "He uses a wheelchair to go to the yard. Even if I ask him something, he does not respond at all. He has become thinner than before, and his physical health condition is good."
Author and psychiatrist Otohiko Kaga, who interviewed Matsumoto in 2006, recalled: "I was immediately aware that he is not pretending to be suffering from a mental disease. He was suffering from an emotional breakdown that resulted from his confinement. His (mental) condition was not one that makes it possible to carry out the death sentence."
The Justice Ministry official, however, said Matsumoto is faking it.
"Matsumoto is acting abnormally to pretend that he is suffering from a mental disease. This poses no problem in executing his death sentence," the official said.
In recent years, Matsumoto has refused to meet people, even his defense lawyers. His self-imposed isolation makes it difficult to confirm if he actually has psychiatric problems.
Source: Asahi Shimbun, July 31, 2013
Aum founder Asahara appeals retrial rejection
Tuesday 24th March, 2009
The lawyer for Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara, who is on death row, filed an appeal Monday with the Tokyo District Court against its earlier rejection of a plea for a retrial, the lawyer said. The court last week rejected the plea lodged by a family member of Asahara, 54, who was convicted on murder and five other charges connected to 13 crimes committed by the group, including fatal sarin attacks in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, in 1994 and on the Tokyo subway system in 1995.
The court said that what the plea claims is new evidence will not lead to an overturning of the sentence for Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto. In February 2004, the district court sentenced Asahara to death for masterminding the series of incidents, and the Supreme Court finalized his death sentence in September 2006.
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SENTENCE MAY SOON BE FINALIZED
Asahara's lawyers file special appeal against death penalty
Wednesday, June 7, 2006
Lawyers for Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara have filed a special appeal with the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the Tokyo High Court's rejection of his appeal against the death sentence.
Asahara's sentence for his role in the cult's crimes, including the 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subways, will stand if the top court does not overrule the high court decision. The appeal was filed Monday.
The top court is unlikely to overrule high court's decision unless there was a violation of the Constitution or if a precedent can be found.
Asahara's lawyers missed the Aug. 31, 2005, deadline for submitting a statement citing the reason for their appeal against the death sentence Asahara received from the Tokyo District Court in February 2004, saying they could not establish meaningful communication with their client, whom they claim is not competent to stand trial.
But the high court turned down the appeal March 27, describing the defense's failure to submit the statement a dereliction of duty and brushing aside the argument about Asahara's competence.
The high court also said the defense, dissatisfied with the results of a court-commissioned psychiatric exam of Asahara, deliberately failed to present its statement for the appeal before the August 2005 deadline.
This decision prompted the defense team to file an objection on March 30.
In the objection, they insisted the high court was wrong in claiming Asahara, who is virtually blind and babbles incoherently in his cell, is not suffering a psychological disorder.
The high court dismissed the objection May 29. It said Asahara has shown symptoms of a mental disorder that is a reaction to having been incarcerated for more than a decade since his May 1995 arrest, but the dismissal of the appeal was unavoidable because the defense missed the deadline.
Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, was sentenced to hang for his role in 13 criminal cases, including another deadly sarin attack in 1994 in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture.
The subway gas attack claimed 12 lives and left more than 5,500 people injured. In the Matsumoto attack, seven people were killed and some 660 others were left ill.
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