Aum Shinrikyo founder
and leader Shoko Asahara refused to enter a plea April 24 for a
series of deadly crimes, including the Tokyo subway sarin attack,
as the Tokyo District Court opened hearings on what has been dubbed the
trial of the century.
The two-day court session, which concludes April 25, is focusing on the
killing of Aum follower Kotaro Ochida in January 1994, illegal
production of an anesthetic from late 1994 to early 1995, and the Tokyo
sarin attack on March 20, 1995, that according to the indictment left 11
people confirmed dead and 3,796 injured. These three cases are among 17
for which he has been indicted. The remaining cases will be handled
later.
Asahara, 41, told the court that all of his past and present
actions were intended to "help bring perfect joy" and "remove pain" from
his fellow people. "I shared and praised the perfect freedom, perfect
joy and happiness that appear in those who practice the supreme truth,"
Asahara said, expressing his beliefs in a five-minute speech instead of
entering a plea. "That is all I can say at the moment."
The intense public interest in the trial drew more than 12,000 people
hoping to win by lottery one of 48 gallery seats open to the public.
Security was extremely tight.
Asahara is the last key Aum figure to go on trial, and
many of his one-time disciples in their trials have branded him the
mastermind of Aum’s alleged crimes. He is being defended by a 12-member,
court-appointed team.
A ruling could take 10 years or more, and if convicted he would most
likely face the death penalty. Because of the case’s complexity, it is
being heard by a panel of four judges instead of the usual three for a
criminal trial.
When asked to confirm his real name as Chizuo Matsumoto,
Asahara responded, "I abandoned that name." Replying to a question
posed by presiding Judge Fumihiro Abe about his profession, Asahara
said he is the leader of Aum Shinrikyo. Asahara reportedly lost
about 20 kg and now weighs 68 kg. His long bushy hair was tied in a
ponytail.
Asked his permanent domicile or the address where he had lived before
his arrest, he answered, "I don’t remember."
Asahara was arrested last May after police found him hiding in a
coffin-size chamber between floors in a building at Aum’s complex in
Kamikuishiki, Yamanashi Prefecture. His trial had been postponed
since October, after he fired his sole defense lawyer, Shoji Yokoyama,
on the eve of that hearing.
Much of the opening session was taken up with a gesture meant to
underscore the individual suffering caused by the subway attack -- a
solemn reading of a list of the victims and sufferers as well as their
ages, the subway station at which they were killed or injured and the
extent of medical treatment the survivors underwent.
Prosecutors read in measured tones, beginning with the dead, grouping
the rest by the seriousness of their injuries. The nerve gas left many
victims with psychological scars. Asahara was made to stand while
prosecutors recited the first set of names -- those of the dead. After
he took his seat again he fidgeted at times, rubbed his eyes and
stretched. At one point he took off his blue sweat shirt.
In the gallery, the widow of a sarin victim cried, her sobs barely
audible in the short pauses between the names being read. Shizue
Takahashi, whose husband was a deputy stationmaster killed in the sarin
attack, and three others were expected to sit in on the two-day session.
They had asked the court to secure seats for them and were granted two
of the 48 available.
At the outset of the proceedings, the court turned down a defense
request that Asahara be allowed to wear Aum’s white religious
attire, known as "kurta," used for yoga training in India. The court
agreed with prosecutors’ objections that the robes had "religious
meaning" and would influence cult witnesses.
Prior to Asahara’s speech, his defense lawyers quizzed
prosecutors for about 40 minutes on the content of the indictments. They
said the indictments did not accurately establish Asahara’s alleged
conspiracy with his disciples over the subway gassing.
Because prosecutors had refused to disclose any evidence relating to the
subway attack, the defense did not have sufficient information to deduce
which of Asahara’s actions, and which of his conversations with
which of his disciples, constituted the crime, they said. The detailed
query continued until the presiding judge sharply cut it off by
declaring "sufficient specification had been reached."
The prosecution’s opening statement will be delivered April 25.
Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto told reporters,
"It seems ... this day
has finally come. I personally believe there is no doubt that
Asahara was involved (in the crimes), because many of his
followers have testified against him."
Tokyo Gov. Yukio Aoshima
said that he hopes the hearings will reveal the whole story behind the
crimes allegedly committed by Aum. He added that he hopes the
nation’s sense of security and the once-common recognition of Tokyo as a
safe city will be restored.
In Kamikuishiki, many Aum followers nervously watched TV reports on the
hearing, cult spokesman Hiroshi Araki said, and some took notes to brief
other followers.
Testimony by defendants in the Aum trials so far implicate Asahara
in eight of the 17 cases, in which a total of 26 people were killed and
3,943 were injured. Other than those handled April 24, the major charges
against him include the murder of Yokohama-based lawyer Tsutsumi
Sakamoto and his wife and son; the June 1994 sarin attack in Matsumoto,
Nagano Prefecture, apparently targeted at judges handling a civil suit
against the cult; and the abduction and killing of Tokyo notary public
Kiyoshi Kariya in February last year. Seven people were killed and 144
were injured in the Matsumoto incident.
Hours before the trial opened, police and reporters were on hand outside
the courthouse in Chiyoda Ward to await Asahara’s arrival. At around
6:30 a.m., about 100 reporters and photographers were positioned outside
the courthouse’s west gate. Television and radio stations set up
makeshift broadcast studios nearby. Asahara’s van arrived at 7:45
a.m. amid a broadside of camera flashes and a pushing crowd of
reporters.
Reflecting authorities’ jitters over several cultists still at large,
riot police surrounded the courthouse, the street was lined with armored
vans and police helicopters patrolled the skies. Because of the security
concerns, Asahara’s hearing was the only criminal proceeding
scheduled for the courthouse for April 24 and 25.
Officers stood every few meters along the streets bordering the
courthouse. All passersby were required to pass through four checkpoints
set up on the sidewalk around the court building, where police inspected
IDs and baggage. Dozens of police vans were stationed on nearby streets.
Officials of nearby government offices were told to detour and only
reporters and people who won the gallery lottery were allowed to walk
the streets surrounding the courthouse complex.
More than 12,000 people lined up in Hibiya Park, across the street from
the courthouse, to vie for a gallery seat. It was the largest turnout
ever for a trial. The previous record -- 4,158 -- showed up for the
first hearing of senior Aum memberTomomasa Nakagawa last
October at the same court.
Almost all open space in the park was occupied by the people waiting for
the seat lottery, and by news crews. A considerable part of the lottery
line was made up of students hired in droves by various media
organizations to try to win a seat and then pass it onto a reporter.
Hundreds of court officials, private security guards and police worked
hard to control the crowd, using megaphones and ropes to maintain order.
According to a tally by the court, 12,292 people entered the lottery.
The hearing was held in Room 104, the courthouse’s largest venue. Of the
room’s 96 seats, about half were reserved for the media, and 48 seats
were available through the lottery.
The trial also brought an unprecedentedly heavy police presence to the
rest of the neighborhood. Thousands of police and security guards were
deployed around the Kasumigaseki subway station -- the nearest station
to the court and one of the main sites of the gas attack. One entrance,
which directly leads to the court, was closed for the day out of fear of
another terrorist attack. But guards at the station, located in the
heart of the national government buildings, had their hands full despite
the security cordon, because about 134,000 commuters pass through the
station, with its 21 exits, every day.
Guards and patrols were also increased at other stations around Tokyo,
although the rail lines declined to comment on the details. "I feel
insecure, of course, because anything could happen," a worker at the
Otemachi subway station in Chiyoda Ward said. But he added that in
general, beefed-up security has been the norm everywhere since March
last year.
A subway spokesman said trash bins on platforms at all of the 148
stations have been sealed off since the gas attack last year because
they might to be used to hide toxic chemicals.
"It’s been more than a year, and we’ve been careful all the time. We
have to work every day," a trash collector said at JR Tokyo Station,
adding that JR earlier in the day told all workers to be careful.
Aum Shinrikyo once boasted more than 10,000 followers, with
branches in Russia, Germany and the United States.
Many of the disciples reportedly drank Asahara’s bath water as a
sign of devotion. The cult has been declared bankrupt and ordered to
disband under the Religious Corporation Law. Only 200 resident followers
remain at a few cult facilities nationwide. The process of applying the
Antisubversive Activities Law to the cult is also under way.