Aum founder’s wife to leave prison on Oct

Kyodo, Sep. 12, 2002
http://www.japantoday.com/

TOKYO — The wife of Shoko Asahara, founder of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, will be released from a prison in Wakayama Prefecture on Oct 15, informed sources said Wednesday.

Tomoko Matsumoto, 44, was arrested in 1995 on suspicion of murdering an Aum member with her husband and others. She was sentenced by a high court to six years in jail in 1999.

Matsumoto has said she has left the cult, which killed 12 people and injured thousands in its sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995, among other crimes, but public security authorities will monitor her movements after her release, the sources said.

Matsumoto appealed against the high court ruling and promised she would never return to the cult, which now calls itself Aleph, but the Supreme Court dismissed her appeal and confirmed her sentence in July last year.

According to the high court ruling, Matsumoto conspired with her husband Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, 47, and other senior Aum members to strangle Kotaro Ochida, 29, with a rope at an Aum facility in Kamikuishiki in Yamanashi Prefecture in January 1994.

Asahara has been tried on 13 cases including the subway attack.

Read Another Article

Colorado church groups rap colleges for hosting Palestinian leader
Couple plans to march against church denomination’s policy

Related News Articles Topic(s): Aum Shinrikyo Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com Aum Shinrikyo Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog