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Chizuo Matsumoto (松本智津夫), better known as
Shoko Asahara (麻原彰晃), is the founder of the Japanese
Aum Shinrikyo (Aum Supreme Truth)
cult.
Partially
blind since birth, Matsumoto was enrolled in a school for the blind as
a child. He graduated in 1977 and after failing the entrance exam for
Tokyo University he turned to the study of
acupuncture and
Chinese medicine. He married in 1978.
In the early 1980s he joined Agonshu, a 'new age' group. In 1987 he
claimed to have experienced a revelation while in India. He also claimed
to have found that he had unique DNA. He changed his name to Asahara Shoko
and formed his own group Aum Shinrikyo in 1987 using a mix of
Buddhist and
Hindu concepts. The group was granted legal recognition as a religious
group, after an appeal, in 1989. Also in that year he founded Shinrito,
the political arm of his group.
Following the abject failure of Shinrito in the 1989 elections
the group turned inwards and Asahara became more melodramatic. Predicting
Armageddon and claiming to be the reincarnation of
Shiva he ordered his followers to build nuclear shelters and remove
themselves from external distractions. Some time between 1990 and 1993
Asahara ordered the production of chemical weapons, including
sarin.
In 1994 the group announced the formation of an independent Aum
government and also released noxious gases on two occasions. On March 20,
1995 ten members of Aum
released sarin on the Tokyo subway, particularly in Kasumigaseki
Station. There were further smaller attacks towards the end of the month.
Between March and May 200 Aum adherents were arrested, Asahara was
uncovered in a concealed room in Aum property in Kamikuishiki.
Asahara is currently in Japanese custody and faces 27 murder counts in
13 separate indictments, mainly the Tokyo attack but also individual
murders of Tsutsumi Sakamoto (an anti-Aum lawyer) and Kiyoshi Kariya (a
notary). He initially refused to enter a plea and it was not until April
1997 he offered a "not guilty", placing the blame for the deaths on his
followers. Prosecutors demanded the
death penalty when they presented final arguments on April 24, 2003;
ten members of the cult have already been sentenced to death. His defence
lawyers presented their final arguements in early November 2003. The trial
has been called the "Trial of the century" by the Japanese media.
Asahara was sentenced to death by
hanging on February 27, 2004 at Tokyo District Court. However, his
legal team immediately appealed the ruling, and the trial is expected to
move to the Supreme Court.
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