| Submit your comments on this article | ||
| Death penalty for Japan cult guru | ||
| 2004-02-27 | ||
| Shoko Asahara, the leader of a Japanese doomsday cult which gassed the Tokyo subway in 1995, has been sentenced to death for ordering the attack. The sarin strike killed 12 people and injured thousands more. It shocked Japan and shed light on the fanatical Aum Shinrikyo group, which was obsessed with chemical and biological weapons. Eleven other Aum members have received death sentences, though none have been executed pending appeals. I don’t believe very many people win these apeals in Japan.
Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, stood passively and said nothing as he was found guilty of all 13 charges of murder and attempted murder. It is still not clear exactly why Asahara ordered the Tokyo attack. The group mixed Buddhist, Hindu and Christian tenets and believed some kind of Armageddon was imminent. The group had also begun to feel threatened by the police at the time of the subway strike and some analysts believe it was in part designed to delay and confuse the authorities. Aum is still operating, albeit under the new name of Aleph and with a supposedly benign new remit. However, the Japanese police still monitor it closely and believe it is still dangerous. Should be shut down totally, Japanese may be allowing it to stay open in order to monitor the membership.
| ||
| Posted by:Steve |
| #12 Sounds like a littel gas needs to go to this guy! Eye for an Eye and all that! Maybe some of these terrorists will think twice if we do what they did to their helpless victims! |
| Posted by: Weatherman 2004-2-27 10:12:28 PM |
| #11 don't ask me how they get the confessions, I am not sure Carl, the police "question" suspects for days without a break. Break them down, shame them into it, ask them to do it to save their families honor. Plus they know everything about them, if you walk around Japan you'll notice small police sub-stations all over the place. Each one has a listing of every person living in the area with details on everyone in the family. This tradition goes way back in Japanese history and continues to expand with technology. The law allowing police to eavesdrop on telephone calls and access e-mail messages was introduced in 2000. In 2002, Japan adopted a computerized ID system giving citizens 11-digit numbers linked to a database containing their personal information. They have installed security cameras on the streets that send pictures back to the police stations. In Japan, Big Brother-san is watching. |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-2-27 1:50:06 PM |
| #10 Jon, yes, you are right. IIRC, they tested their poisons on animals in Australia, kind of like al-Qaeda was doing in Afghanistan. |
| Posted by: Carl in N.H 2004-2-27 1:14:57 PM |
| #9 Dar, also, they rely pretty heavily on confessions (don't ask me how they get the confessions, I am not sure), so it is harder to lawyer them off the hook, such as by raising questions about the evidence. |
| Posted by: Carl in N.H 2004-2-27 1:13:14 PM |
| #8 is this the same nut group who had a research base in the Oz outback and apparently the nutters were fuckin about trying to make 'tesla' weapons! Scary. |
| Posted by: Jon Shep U.K 2004-2-27 12:03:19 PM |
| #7 Ah... The ever present saving of face. That explains a lot. Thanks, Steve! Hmm... Don't know if I like that or not. Seems like there's a slim chance in such a system of convicting someone who's innocent, but unless you have a heap of evidence a lot of criminals will walk. It's more incentive to make sure there are no witnesses! |
| Posted by: Dar 2004-2-27 11:40:32 AM |
| #6 Specifically, are Japanese prosecutors really that good, or do they dismiss most charges and cases until they find an easy, clear cut case? They don't arrest people and press charges until they have a slam dunk case. If they try someone and fail to get a convection they'd loose face. I was in Japen for three years and that's what my Japanese friends told me. They also are big supporters of the death sentence, they still believe in personal responsibility for your actions. |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-2-27 11:10:45 AM |
| #5 explain to shoko that sometimes when a big boy like that gets the gallows, the head comes clean off....heh heh |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-2-27 11:04:45 AM |
| #4 Somekind of Armageddon Hmmm.... yep. Pretty good name for a band. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-2-27 10:36:25 AM |
| #3 The CNN version of this story also states that Japan has a 99-percent conviction rate. That sentence alone doesn't explain much, so I'm wondering if anyone here familiar with Japan's court system could elaborate? Specifically, are Japanese prosecutors really that good, or do they dismiss most charges and cases until they find an easy, clear cut case? Are they able to present more evidence than an American prosecutor might (if it were obtained illegally or without a warrant)? That stat is way open to interpretation without any supporting stats. I'm worried that there's a lot of innocent people in Japan behind bars, or alternately that only the criminally stupid get caught and prosecuted successfully, while any criminal with a smattering of intelligence walks. |
| Posted by: Dar 2004-2-27 10:36:13 AM |
| #2 I await the world's outrage that a civilized country should still have a death penalty. I'm sure Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon will quickly appear and take the benighted country to task. Oh, wait! That's Japan! I thought we were discussing the U.S. |
| Posted by: Highlander 2004-2-27 10:33:43 AM |
| #1 Looks like things are going to get mighty toasty for this guy in a few years. |
| Posted by: Steve from Relto 2004-2-27 9:49:56 AM |