The Tokyo District Court on Friday sentenced former Aum Supreme Truth cult member Makoto Hirata to nine years in prison for his involvement in a high-profile 1995 kidnapping and other crimes committed by the doomsday cult.
The prison term for Hirata, 48, was shorter than the 12-year sentence sought by prosecutors.
In a series of Aum-related cases, it was the first sentence handed down under the lay judge system, which was introduced in 2009.
Hirata surrendered to the police at the end of 2011 after 17 years on the run.
Hirata was charged with the February 1995 kidnapping and imprisoning of Kiyoshi Kariya, a Tokyo pubic notary.
Aum founder Chizuo Matsumoto, also known as Shoko Asahara, ordered followers to abduct Kariya, then 68, to discover the whereabouts of the notary’s younger sister, an Aum member. Kariya died at an Aum facility in Yamanashi Prefecture after being given a large quantity of anesthetic.
On the orders of Matsumoto, former senior Aum members Yoshihiro Inoue and Noboru Nakamura instructed Hirata to use a laser gun to blind people during the kidnapping of Kariya, according to prosecutors.
After Inoue and others told Hirata about the kidnapping plan, he traveled to the location on Feb. 28, 1995, the prosecution claimed.
The lay-judge trial of Hirata started in January this year. Hirata denied some of the charges, claiming that he was not aware he was taking part in the kidnapping of Kariya and that he did not know about anything that happened after he acted as a lookout.
Hirata also denied involvement in planting a bomb in the Tokyo condominium residence of a religious scholar sympathetic to Aum as part of the group’s attempt to confuse police on March 19, 1995, the day before a sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system by the cult. He did, however, admit to firebombing an Aum facility.
The sarin attack, the deadliest of the crimes committed by Aum Shinrikyo, killed 13 people and injured more than 6,000 others.
Original Text From: http://the-japan-news.comews/article/0001099511
