Asahara is sentenced to hang [Archive]

Hachiko

Feb 28, 2004, 11:08

Finally, the Aum Shinrikyo head get sthe death sentence! Justice has been served. Here's an article from the Japan Times:

Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara was sentenced to death Friday for ordering a series of crimes carried out by his disciples, including the March 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack.

The widely expected sentence was handed down by the Tokyo District Court after a trial lasting seven years and 10 months. Asahara, 48, stood accused on 13 counts in connection with crimes that caused 27 deaths.

The counsel for the guru, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, immediately filed an appeal.

http://www.japantimes.com/images/photos2004/nn20040228a1a.jpg

Japan Times (http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20040228a1.htm)

Golgo_13

Feb 28, 2004, 13:19

Hachiko

Feb 28, 2004, 15:56

Good. The bastard deserves it.

The great thing about the death penalty in Japan is it's carried out pretty quickly compared to the U.S., and no one has a problem with it since the penalty is usually given to only brutal and/or mass murderers.

Give that, will the appeal pass? Or will it be turned down. I would think, given the circustances, it's the latter.

Eternal Wind

Feb 28, 2004, 20:20

Good for him!!well,i think he is a crazy guy for the killing of so many innocent ppl...ya:(...and it took 8 yrs for the outcome...

ohayougozaru

Mar 10, 2004, 07:50

several years ago read a jpn weekly magazine article about asahara/matsumotos ancestry: his gran....pa was a secret police officer of north korea. seems among kyushu-ites relatively thick relatives reside there... a site says a both big jpn and south korean religious organizations had funded aum..... btw there are lots of sports/tv personalities who are korean descendants: like a popular baseball exmanager now seems rehabilitated whose pa was from peninsula wrote a same kind of magazine.... perhaps to promote improved relationship between the two people???

Golgo_13

Mar 10, 2004, 08:43

The Washington D.C. area sniper was sentenced to death today.

He still maintains his innocence.

den4

Mar 10, 2004, 09:14

What was this weird thing I once heard about Aum claiming it was following Asimov's Foundation trilogy as a basis for their cult group? I still didn't understand that one, unless it was merely rumor... :o

名無し

Mar 28, 2006, 08:03

Give that, will the appeal pass? Or will it be turned down.Tokyo High Court Rejects Asahara's Appeal of Death Sentence (http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/archive/news/2006/03/27/20060327p2a00m0na026000c.html) (Mainichi)The defense team could still file an objection against the High Court decision to Japan's Supreme Court, but Asahara will hang if the top court sides with the earlier decision, according to public broadcaster NHK.Court Rejects Appeal for Aum Founder (http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060328TDY01004.htm) (Yomiuri)Matsumoto's lawyers said they would file an objection with the high court.

If the objection is turned down, the defense can still file a special appeal to the Supreme Court. However, legal experts said the top court would be unlikely to overturn the high court decision, and the death sentence likely will be finalized without hearings at the high court.

Faustianideals

Mar 28, 2006, 08:11

I'm glad he was sentenced to death. Crimes like that are unforgivable. People follow religion/cults ignorantly, and this is the outcome.

Mike Cash

Mar 28, 2006, 18:55

The sentence was handed down long ago. What you meant to say is that the sentence was confirmed.

gs001

Mar 29, 2006, 22:01

Why my reply be deleted?
Is that Japanese style of free speech?
your Japanese told the world again and again that
when a person die, he will immediately become deity and be
worshiped, no matter what he did during his lifetime.
your PM always use this as an excuse to explain his
shrine visit.
Am I wrong? I want your explanation.

changedonrequest

Mar 29, 2006, 23:24

Well, it sure took long enough for the trial and sentencing to finally reach this point, I dont think the courts would have had any other sentence than the one they gave him.

Finally the people's lives that were shattered by the sarin attack and the fear spread by Aum will get some closure. Unfortunately hanging isnt enough of a sentence in my opinion, but then again that's another thread or topic.

Something out of history, like the Spanish Inquisition, would probably be more appropriate in Matsumoto's case.

nurizeko

Mar 30, 2006, 00:47

I wonder if he's enough of a nutjob to have a last word speech.

I'de rather he just rot in a prison but, he did a pretty horrible thing, anyone coulda been on the train, i coulda lost my girlfriend to that.

I guess in a way thats why its more personal then the london or madrid bombings for me, i dont go anywhere near london or madrid and i dont have family in london, well one but she has a car, but i could lost the most important person to me in the world, over a sick ****'s self delusion.

I hope he dies scared if he has to die at all, i dont want him to have the option of going out like a martyr.

Dutch Baka

Mar 30, 2006, 04:17

Too bad, I would have rather seen him in a cell from 2x2 with no window, living in there until the day he dies... I think death penalty is to easy!!! easy punnishment.

changedonrequest

Mar 30, 2006, 15:53

Too bad, I would have rather seen him in a cell from 2x2 with no window, living in there until the day he dies... I think death penalty is to easy!!! easy punnishment.

Interesting, but I don't want to have to pay for his "room and board".

pipokun

Mar 30, 2006, 22:08

Elizabeth van Kampen

Mar 31, 2006, 00:58

In Holland "Death sentence" is forbidden. So I fully agree with my compatriot Dutch Baka: Put this type of idiots behind the prison bars for the rest of their lifes.

Minty

Mar 31, 2006, 01:10

I do not support capital punishment.

There have been people condemned of homicide, and then afterwards discovered to be not guilty. This evidences that judicature organization is not 100% correct. True, you may jail somebody unintentionally, but if a mistake is discovered it's more facile to free them than to upraise an already deceased person.

Mycernius

Mar 31, 2006, 01:10

Interesting, but I don't want to have to pay for his "room and board".
Your paying for those who appeal. You want him to suffer then let him rot in jail instead of giving him the martyrdom that he thinks this might achieve. I agree with Dutch (we have no death sentance in the UK either)

Tokis-Phoenix

Mar 31, 2006, 02:10

Isn't death by hanging though...A bit medievil perhaps? Don't they have the lethal injection or electric chair?
In england it costs on average ￡24,000 to keep each prisoner in prison, i'm sure its pretty expensive in japan as well, although prison would probably be a much better punishment, do you really think he's worth the money?

changedonrequest

Mar 31, 2006, 06:25

Your paying for those who appeal. You want him to suffer then let him rot in jail instead of giving him the martyrdom that he thinks this might achieve. I agree with Dutch (we have no death sentance in the UK either)
I know I'm paying for the appeal and for his incarceration as well, I dont want it to be to the end of his natural life either. He could live to be a 100 it isnt worth it.

There have been people condemned of homicide, and then afterwards discovered to be not guilty. This evidences that judicature organization is not 100% correct. True, you may jail somebody unintentionally, but if a mistake is discovered it's more facile to free them than to upraise an already deceased person.
Today 00:58

Minty, that may be the case some where else but NOT here. If this guy was let free watch the Japanese people go on a rampage against the crimminal judiciary system. Oh Matsumoto would probably only last a few days at the most as chances are someone from the general public would murder him. In effect carrying out the "capital punishment".

If you were given the option of pulling the rope and being the exectutioner would you do it?

nurizeko

Mar 31, 2006, 20:48

Ide rather he rot behind bars but i aint going to shed tears for his death either.

Mike Cash

Apr 1, 2006, 01:27

Isn't death by hanging though...A bit medievil perhaps? Don't they have the lethal injection or electric chair?

The electric chair was meant to be a more civilized/humane method of execution. In actuality, it turned out to be pretty barbaric. A properly conducted hanging (which Japan does not do, by the way), is almost certainly preferable to being cooked in the chair.

That being said, executions, if they are to be done at all, should be to some degree barbaric. In adopting lethal injection we have decided to be humane at the cost of being inhuman.

Tokis-Phoenix

Apr 2, 2006, 06:27

The electric chair was meant to be a more civilized/humane method of execution. In actuality, it turned out to be pretty barbaric. A properly conducted hanging (which Japan does not do, by the way), is almost certainly preferable to being cooked in the chair.
That being said, executions, if they are to be done at all, should be to some degree barbaric. In adopting lethal injection we have decided to be humane at the cost of being inhuman.

I suppose you are right about the electric chair, i have heard many cases of it failing very badly now that i think about it, but i don't agree that executions should be "to some degree barbaric". The need to induce suffering to one who has done wrong is a basic primitive human instinct in itself, how can we say we disagree with say, burning people at the stake or beheading them and stuff, when we still feel that it is nesarsary to induce suffering in execution? Its just a matter of who decides whats morally correct...In ghengis khans time, boiling people alive was one of the normal forms of execution for treason or murder and things, now days we call that horibly barbaric. But if we still believe execution should be at least barbaric to some degree, can we really look down on the methods of execution used in ghengis khans time morally? I don't think we can if we hold that way of thinking.

gs001

Apr 6, 2006, 10:44

Don't worry. My posts also deleted so many times.
I am not worry, my posts were often deleted in Chinese forums too
But I believe to any forum the more tolerant the more popular.
back to Aum Shinrikyo affair,
religions can control people's thought like that, really terrible.
As an atheist, It is incomprehensible for me to see believers of
any religion kneel down in front of something out of thin air.
In the long history of human being, religions played a very negative
role, why people still worship their god who never be able to even
prove the existence of itself.

4321go

Apr 6, 2006, 21:25

I am not worry, my posts were often deleted in Chinese forums too
But I believe to any forum the more tolerant the more popular.

Oh ,I am sorry to hear that~ But I wonder that which kind of post being deleted ? anyhow, keep communicating with us,I enjoy reading some of your posts :-)

pipokun

Apr 6, 2006, 22:56

Yes, keep posting, though I did not read all gs001's posts.

gs001

Apr 7, 2006, 00:26

I have been a netizen for 10 years and access to thousands of forums
it is hard to say which kind of post is likely to be deleted.
different countries have different sensitive topics.
In Chinese forum, some toptics such as 1989.6.4 is forbidden
In Arabia forum, when you talk negative about their religion, you
will be banned,
In Japan, take this thread as example, when I doubt about dead-worshipping tradition in Japan, someone deleted my post:-)

Henry G

Apr 21, 2006, 16:32

Hey, please don't be so harsh on religions. There are Buddism, Islam, and Catholic in this world. They make people more tolerate and benevolent. Unfortunately, sometimes religions fell to be political tools.
Support! HE Should be sentenced to death.

名無し

May 30, 2006, 22:38

NHK News (http://www.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/dailynews.html)High Court Upholds Halt of Asahara Trial

The Tokyo High Court has upheld its earlier decision to discontinue the trial of Aum cult leader Shoko Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto. The decision makes it more likely that the cult leader's death sentence will be finalized.

In March, the court decided to halt the appeal by the cult leader, who had been sentenced to death by a lower court.

It cited the defense lawyers' failure to submit the necessary documents by the deadline, even though the defendant had been found mentally fit to stand trial.

The defense lawyers then lodged an objection, and called for the court to annul its decision.

On Tuesday, another high court judge reviewing the case dismissed the defense lawyers' objection, and said the initial high court decision was reasonable.

The defense team is now expected to file a complaint with the Supreme Court.

Cult leader Shoko Asahara was found guilty of ordering the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, and various other crimes committed by cult members.BBC article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5028916.stm)

Mars Man

Jun 1, 2006, 00:09

Oh yes...I'm sorry to hear that any posts were deleted. (unless the particular post was just too off in left-field)

Hanging, well, maybe, but lethal injection sounds better at least. (Anyway, I am not so much in favor of the death sentence. . .for the greater part, at least) This guy. . .? O.K.

Please don't forget that his followers did a trial run here in Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan too. I was here then, of course, and recall it well.

It had been on a Monday night. I had taught English at a hospital very near that location on that night. A couple of detectives came to visit me some three weeks later, asking a bunch of questions, showing me chemical diagrams of sarin--asking if I recognized them and such. Of course, I made it a friendly occasion with coffee and cookies, and kept it light. Also, of course, I knew nothing.

But, the police blundered that investigation, and blamed the wrong person too soon. (it looks good in the press, you know, to say they've got their man) The poor man's own wife had been hospitalized due to that attack, was in pretty bad shape, and this guy was held for a while. . .sad.

Some things I will never forget. All the helicopters flying in circles over the area the next day. The policeman sitting in the chair, on the road, in front of that man's house for at least up to two weeks. (I drove by there several times, and for whatever value they think it might have had, some officer was always sitting there...strange...)

名無し

Sep 16, 2006, 05:30

NHK news (http://www.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/dailynews.html)Death Sentence Upheld for Cult Leader Asahara, Mastermind of Tokyo Subway Sarin Gas Attack

Japan's Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence for the mastermind of the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system in 1995, which killed 12 people. Shoko Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, will be hanged.

The former leader of Aum Shinrikyo cult was sentenced to death by the Tokyo District Court in 2004 for the subway attack and 12 other cases. Altogether 27 people were murdered.

Earlier this year, the Tokyo High Court rejected an appeal by the defense lawyers, saying they failed to submit the necessary documents in time.

Following the rejection, the defense lawyers filed a special complaint with the Supreme Court to overturn the Tokyo High Court decision. However on Friday, the Supreme Court rejected the defense counsel's complaint and upheld the High Court's ruling.

Shoko Asahara has no other avenue of appeal under Japan's judicial system.

In 1995, Aum followers attacked the Tokyo subway system with sarin gas, a lethal nerve gas developed by the cult.

Besides 12 people being killed, more than 5,500 were injured.

Many survivors are still suffering from aftereffects. The courts have decided that Asahara was behind it all and should die.

gs001

Sep 18, 2006, 08:58

Mike Cash

Sep 18, 2006, 09:03

Let's wait and see if this guy is going to be emplaced in a shrine
and get worship from Japanese after death penalty.
If not, then the so-called death worship tradition will be
completely hypocrisy and chicanery:-).:-)

After reading your post, I glanced over at your flag and found myself thoroughly unsurprised.

名無し

Sep 18, 2006, 12:50

Let's wait and see if this guy is going to be emplaced in a shrine
and get worship from Japanese after death penalty.Just twelve would be way too few for any enshrinement.

By the way how many did the great chairman Mao murder during the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution to be admired at Tian'anmen Square.

Mike Cash

Sep 18, 2006, 13:08

By the way how many did the great chairman Mao murder during the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution to be admired at Tian'anmen Square.

He didn't murder anybody at all. That's just another one of those nasty myths, like the Rape of Nanking.

gs001

Sep 18, 2006, 15:42

Are you sure Chinese people today still worship Mao?
In the eyes of most Chinese people, Mao is a dictator
and tyrant. he must be responsible for the death of
millions of poeple.
On the contrary, we have a neighbor, in there
killing 12 countrymen will be regarded as evil man
but killing millions of foreigner will be regarded as
national hero.:cool: :cool:

Mike Cash

Sep 18, 2006, 17:49

Are you sure Chinese people today still worship Mao?
In the eyes of most Chinese people, Mao is a dictator
and tyrant. he must be responsible for the death of
millions of poeple.
On the contrary, we have a neighbor, in there
killing 12 countrymen will be regarded as evil behavior
but killing millions of foreigner will be regarded as
national hero.:cool: :cool:

word of the day: "conflate"

leonmarino

Oct 7, 2006, 17:47

What does that mean, conflate? :relief:

Mike Cash

Oct 7, 2006, 18:39

http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2004/08/04.html

gs001 conflates two entirely unrelated issues into one.

名無し

Dec 21, 2006, 01:44

It is nice that no poster in the thread so far has thought of the aspect that the minister of justice has not signed the official execution order paper because it could make Asahara a tragic martyr to attract more followers just like J***s C****t.

After all they will be unsuccessful in hanging him; the Guru supposedly can float in the air.