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Aum Shinrikyo

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This is Religion News Blog's archive of news items tagged Aum Shinrikyo.

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Ex-prosecutor: ‘Aum made preparations to topple the government’

The Aum Supreme Truth cult could have toppled the government and taken power, even only for a short period, by committing mass murder in Tokyo with 70 tons of deadly sarin gas and 1,000 automatic rifles, a former Supreme Court justice said in an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun.

Meanwhile, New Religious Movements scholars — paid for by Aum Shinrikyo itself — defended the cult.

Aum Shinrikyo may be gone in name but guru still has following

While Aum Shinrikyo’s criminal masterminds await the hangman’s noose on Japan’s death row, splinter groups remain active and are showing signs of loyalty to guru Shoko Asahara.

Renamed Aleph the cult reportedly still celebrates Asahara’s birthday with special events.

Aum Shinikyo trial end: Final appeal on Tokyo subway gas attack rejected

Japan’s top court on Monday rejected the final appeal against a death sentence meted out for the deadly 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway, leaving 13 members of the Aum Supreme Truth doomsday cult facing the gallows.

The supreme court threw out requests to spare the life of Seiichi Endo, the last of the cultists indicted over a series of attacks, including that on commuters which left 13 people dead — one of the nation’s worst mass-murders.

Japan’s top court upholds death sentence against Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult member

Japan’s Supreme Court on Friday rejected an appeal by senior AUM Shinrikyo cult member Tomomasa Nakagawa, who was sentenced to death by lower courts for involvement in a series of incidents including the group’s sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway system in 1995 and in Nagano Prefecture a year earlier.

Shoko Asahara second retrial plea fails

Japan police raid cult behind 1995 nerve gas subway attack

Japanese authorities on Monday raided buildings used by the doomsday cult behind the 1995 deadly sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway, news reports said.

Anniversary of cult’s sarin gas attack on Tokyo subway commemorated

The 16th anniversary of a deadly sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system was commemorated Sunday with a moment of silence.

The gas attack was carried out by members of Aum Shinrikyo, a destructive doomsday cult.

Death sentence for AUM Shinrikyo cult member to be finalized

Japan’s Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down an appeal from Masami Tsuchiya, a former senior member of the AUM Shinrikyo cult who was sentenced to death over a series of crimes committed by group members, including the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.

The National Police Agency said Monday it has confirmed that a total of 6,583 people fell victim to the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system and seven other crimes committed by the Aum Shinrikyo cult, as it closed Friday accepting their applications for government relief.

It means that the Japanese agency has newly found 1,000 or more victims.

A man suspected of fatally stabbing his ex-wife, a follower of a group that split from the AUM Shinrikyo cult, has told police he thought that the killing would enable him to get his daughter back.

9 out of 10 Aum Shinrikyo crime victims apply for government relief

Japan’s Supreme Court has rejected a plea for a retrial for Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara, who is on death row for masterminding the 1995 deadly sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system as well as other crimes, sources said Wednesday.

The number of victims of the 1995 sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway by the AUM Shinrikyo cult is almost 6,300 in a nationwide police survey — far more than the earlier estimate of over 5,000.

Meanwhile one more fatality has been identified.

A tip that Aum Shinrikyo might try to disrupt plans by police to probe its activities was received shortly before the cult attacked the Tokyo subway system with sarin in 1995, the national police chief at the time revealed in an interview.

A video recording of the interview will be played at a public viewing on March 13, along with interviews with other people involved in the case ahead of the 15th anniversary of the attack.

The death sentence for former senior AUM Shinrikyo cult member Tomomitsu Niimi has been finalized for his roles in 11 crimes killing 26 people.

Japan’s Supreme Court rejected the defendant’s objection the top court’s earlier ruling.

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