AUM's Endo files objection over ruling upholding death sentence
(Mainichi Japan) December 2, 2011
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A defense lawyer for senior AUM Shinrikyo cult member Seiichi Endo filed an objection with the Supreme Court on Thursday over its Nov. 21 decision to uphold lower court rulings that sentenced him to death for involvement in a series of crimes committed by the group.
The top court has never upheld such an objection over technicalities such as an error in wording, and the death sentence will be finalized if the top court rejects the move, a development that is likely to put a formal end to more than 16 years of investigations and trials involving the cult.
A veterinarian and virologist, Endo, 51, was given the death penalty by lower courts for playing a central role in the 1994-1995 nerve gas attacks in Nagano Prefecture and on the Tokyo subway system by producing the agent as a key architect of the group's chemical weapons development program.
Eleven members of the cult have had their death sentences finalized. AUM founder Shoko Asahara, 56, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, masterminded a series of crimes and was sentenced to death for murdering a total of 27 people in 13 criminal cases.
None of the members has been hanged, however, because under the criminal procedure law executions cannot in principle be carried out until the finalization of sentences for any accomplices.
A defense lawyer for another senior cult member, Tomomasa Nakagawa, 49, has also filed an objection with the top court over its Nov. 18 decision to uphold the death sentence for Nakagawa.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Condemned Aum sarin maker loses first appeal
By JUN HONGO
The Japan Times: Friday, June 1, 2007
(C) All rights reserved
Staff writer
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.
"The accused played a vital role in manufacturing sarin, which was used on the subways. He bears the same criminal responsibility as those who carried out the attacks," the judge said.
Endo, tieless in navy blue suit, took notes as the sentence was handed down, but made no statement in court.
According to the court, the doomsday cult's one-time chief chemist manufactured biochemical weapons that were used in the March 20, 1995, morning rush hour attack, which left 12 people dead and some 5,500 injured.
Endo was also found guilty in the murders of seven people in the June 1994 sarin attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, and of two counts of attempted murder with VX nerve agents used against an anti-Aum activist and a lawyer that year.
Endo's defense team had argued the death sentence meted out by the Tokyo District Court in 2002 was "too extreme a punishment" since their client was not directly involved in carrying out the attacks but merely in making the nerve gas.
While Ikeda acknowledged that the accused, who was pursuing a doctorate in virology at Kyoto University before joining the cult, was acting on orders from Aum founder Shoko Asahara, he rejected the defense allegation that Endo was brainwashed and should not be held liable for the crimes.
Shizue Takahashi, who lost her husband in the Tokyo attack, said she was "relieved" the ruling was upheld.
"The trials have continued for 13 years already but I am determined that we continue to voice our concerns," she said.
Of the 189 Aum members prosecuted for the cult's crimes, 13, including Endo, have been sentenced to hang.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
★２００７年（平成１９年)５月３１日、東京高裁は地下鉄、松本両サリン事件を含む４事件で、殺人罪などに問われた元オウム真理教幹部、遠藤誠一被告（４６歳）に対し、１審・東京地裁の死刑判決（０２年１０月）を支持し、被告の控訴を棄却した。池田修裁判長は「無差別大量殺人を企てた犯罪史上例をみない残虐卑劣な暴挙。極刑で臨むほかない」と述べた。弁護側は、遠藤被告が松本智津夫（麻原彰晃）死刑囚（５２歳）のマインドコントロール下にあったとして死刑回避を訴えたが、池田裁判長は「自らの判断で加担した」と認定。その上で「松本事件でサリンの威力を痛感したのに、地下鉄事件でサリン生成に主体的に関与した。刑事責任は実行役に勝るとも劣らない」と指摘した。判決によると、遠藤被告は松本死刑囚らと共謀して１９９４年５月〜９５年３月、両サリン事件のほか、信者脱会を支援した滝本太郎弁護士をサリンで、脱会信者の相談を受けた水野昇をＶＸで襲撃した。両サリン事件では計１９人が死亡した。一連のオウム事件で死刑判決を受けたのは遠藤被告を含め１３人。松本死刑囚と岡崎一明死刑囚（４６歳）の２人は確定し、９人が最高裁に上告中。高裁で裁判が続くのは中川智正被告（４４歳）だけになった。