Research resources: Apologetics Index entry on Aum Shinrikyo
Doomsday cult member Makoto Hirata is charged with involvement in the 1995 abduction and death of a notary official.
Hirata, who in January 2011 handed himself in to police after 17 years on the run, is also charged with involvement in the firebombing of a Tokyo condominium.
A court has ruled that the Tokyo Metropolitan government must pay damages, and apologize, to Aleph — the successor of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult — for suggesting Aum was responsible for the attempted murder of Japan’s national chief of police.
Aum Shinrikyo is best known for its March 20, 1995 terrorist attack on the Tokyo subway system, during which cult members released nerve gas.
Police in Japan are trying to decide how to divide the $250,000 reward for information that led to the capture of the final suspects in the 1995 nerve gas attack on Tokyo’s subway.
Police in Japan will serve a fresh arrest warrant against former AUM Shinkrikyo member Naoko Kikuchi on suspicion of murder and attempted murder in connection with three VX nerve agent attacks in 1994 and 1995.
Kikuchi was arrested earlier this month after 17 years on the run, wanted for allegedly playing a role in the production of the nerve agent used in the cult’s deadly attack on the Tokyo subway.
Katsuya Takahashi, the Aum Shinrikyo cult member arrested last week after 17 years on the run, still worships the cult’s guru.
Police have recovered book published by the doomsday cult, along with cassette tape recordings by — and photos of — cult leader Shoko Asahara.
The upcoming trials of the last three Aum Shinrikyo cult members will inevitably revisit the atrocities committed by the cultists, whose spiritual pursuits under guru Shoko Asahara claimed 29 lives and left more than 6,500 people injured.
Cult experts hope that revisiting Aum’s mayhem will raise public awareness of the potential dangers of joining cults.
Police in Japan have arrested the last fugitive from the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult on suspicion of murder in connection with the 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.
The suspect, Katsuya Takahashi, 54, was caught in the Kamata area of Tokyo’s Ota Ward after spending 17 years on the run.
Japanese police are closing in on the last remaining fugitive wanted in connection with the Aum Shinrikyo cult’s deadly 1995 sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway.
Detectives are trailing just hours behind the last known whereabouts of Katsuya Takahashi.
One of the two remaining fugitive members of Aum Shinrikyo, the doomsday cult behind the 1995 nerve gas attack on Tokyo subways, was arrested Sunday, according to Japanese media reports.
Naoko Kikuchi, 40, acknowledged who she was when approached by police.
The Tokyo District Court sentenced former Aum Shinrikyo member Akemi Saito to 14 months in prison Tuesday for harboring fugitive cultist Makoto Hirata for more than 14 years.